The UC Santa Barbara Women’s Soccer team wrapped up their four-game home stand and non-conference games with a 0-0 draw to West Coast Conference opponent Saint Mary’s.
“We are happy with our performance in the midfield and defensively,” said Paul Stumpf. “Saint Mary’s has six wins and two very dynamic forwards. We did a really good job of limiting their looks at the goal. In the first half, we out-possessed them [Saint Mary’s] but only took one shot, and again we broke down in the final third of the field. The girls are trying their hardest in that space but all we can do is just keep working at it.”
The Gauchos switched up their starting lineup a bit with four players making their first start of the season. Maddie Buckley, Samantha Christie, Kyla Christofferson and Leila Emmerson all were plugged into the starting eleven to begin the game.
The new-look starting lineup came out with a lot of energy and played very evenly against Saint Mary’s, who was named the NCAA Team of the Week on Monday, Sept. 11. In the 31st minute the Gauchos made six substitutions still with the game at nil-nil.
A couple of opportunities by the Gaels in the final two minutes of the first half would not beat the Gaucho defense and the teams went to the break scoreless.
UC Santa Barbara came out and started to apply more offensive pressure in the opening minutes of the second half. Brenna Madruga sent a header wide off a corner kick in the 54th minute before Lauren Helwig nearly netted her fifth goal of the season in the 60th minute.
The Gaucho defense held strong and kept a potent Saint Mary’s offense from scoring. In the final minutes of the match, UC Santa Barbara had another great chance to score. Haley Phillips was able to force a turnover just outside the penalty area and found some space. She dribbled a few times before passing to Olivia Howard who took a shot and nearly missed the top right side of the goal to give the Gauchos a late lead.
The Gauchos had one more chance in the 89th minute off a corner kick but could not convert and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
