SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team earned a draw against North Dakota on Thursday night. What was a completely dominant performance in the first half quickly flipped in the second half, resulting in three of the four goals in the match being scored.
FROM HEAD COACH PAUL STUMPF
"I told the team, some ties feel like a tie, some feel like a win, and some feel like a loss," said Stumpf. "Last Sunday when we left Davis, I felt our tie felt a little bit like a win because we did not play particularly well for us. Unfortunately, tonight was the exact opposite. Tonight we played exceptionally well, peppered the goal, but our problem continues to be defending set pieces. For us is we have to work a little bit more on our defensive set pieces. We've got a little bit better job of our crossing and finishing because in the middle portion of the field, we are quite good and talented."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos took complete control of the game early on and capitalized in the 22
nd minute. After taking eight shots in the opening 20 minutes of play,
Delilah Vega-Aguilar netted the Gauchos' first goal of the match.
Chayse Yu played a ball back to
Zoe Franks, who crossed the ball into the box, finding the head of Vega-Aguilar. It was her second goal in as many games.
Following the goal, the Gauchos did not back off. They continued to rip shots to try and further extend their lead. Unfortunately, most of them would sail wide or high. They did force the North Dakota goalkeeper to make a few saves, and those saves came up big in the second half. The Gauchos did not extend their lead any further and went to the break up 1-0.
Out of the second half, it was North Dakota who applied the pressure. After finally maintaining possession and getting the ball up the field, the Fighting Hawks forced
Maddie Buckley to make her first save of the match. UND was awarded a corner kick, and after an initial save, the Fighting Hawks cleaned up the rebound and levelled the game at one-all. The Gauchos had a quick offensive flurry following the goal, but after a stoppage in play, the officials went to VAR to review a previous play.
In the 59
th minute, a 50/50 ball rolled into the Santa Barbara box, forcing Buckley and a North Dakota forward to collide. After review, it was ruled a penalty on Buckley, resulting in a PK opportunity for the Fighting Hawks. North Dakota beat Buckley and took a 2-1 lead.
Five minutes later,
Chayse Yu netted the Gaucho equalizer with an assist by
Alondra Talamantes. Freshman Talamantes took a great shot on net, forcing the keeper to dive to her left and make a save. Yu was in the right spot at the right time to clean up the rebound and tie the game at two. From there, the Gauchos took control again and continued to pepper the goal with shots. Unfortunately, the North Dakota goalkeeper was up to the test and stopped every shot. With just over a minute left, UC Santa Barbara was awarded a corner kick, their 11
th of the match. After the ball had landed and play had stopped, UC Santa Barbara asked for a review from the corner.
Hailey Tyacke was pushed from behind, and the Gauchos were awarded a penalty kick with 37 seconds left to play.
Sophia Moness stepped over the ball and went low and right; the keeper guessed correctly and made the save to end the game at a 2-2 draw.
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will return to Harder Stadium on Sunday, September 6. The Gauchos and will honor their nine seniors before the match against North Dakota State. The match will kick off at 12 p.m. and be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com/WSOCLiveStats.
