Congratulations to NCAA champions UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. The men in blue defeated UCLA 2-1 Sunday, getting the ultimate game winner in the 3rd minute of play. The goal was a classic, as the Gaucho’s played the ball into their rugged forward Nick Perera, whose one touch ball put Tyler Rosenlund into the box. Rosenlund handled the first challenge before turning the corner and putting a well placed ball through a crowd and into the path of Perera who finished from 8 yards out.
The Gaucho’s got a second in the 60th minute and held off the Bruin’s despite their furious charge in the final 15 minutes that saw UCLA pull one back as well as seeing two certain goals denied, one by a goal line clearance by defender #12 and by goalkeeper Kyle Reynish on a UCLA set piece (pictured above) by #5 from just outside the box.
For any new visitors to my site, click on the photo above to be taken to my Flickr photo site where you’ll find almost 100 photos from the weekend that are available for free download. If you’d like to purchase the original higher quality versions, contact me using the Contact page.
Anyone else in attendance care to offer their thoughts on the game? How about Bryson or Colton Tombridge, Adam Peterson, Alex Palmer, Bryan Murray, Evan Garrad, Ryan and Danny Collins? Is there anyone I missed? How about Mike Ambersley who got the decisive PK against UCSB in the 2004 title game for the Hoosiers!
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We attended all three games and enjoyed a weekend of excellent soccer. Thanks Steve for letting us know about ordering tickets in advance. We had great seats on the top row of the bleachers right at midfield. Although UCSB was the eventual champions, we thought Wake Forest was the better team on Saturday. We were staying at the Sheraton where the Wake team and parents were staying. They were a classy group and we really enjoyed talking with them. We also thought UCLA had a better showing on Saturday than they did on Sunday. We could blame the weather, but with two California teams playing, that shouldn’t have been an issue. The Billikens field was in great shape, considering all the factors. Hats off to the grounds crew.
Nick, Lisa and Mike Schlichtman
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