The UCSB women’s club field hockey team battled it out against UC Irvine and Claremont McKenna this weekend while the majority of Gauchos lay sound asleep recovering from Halloween and midterms.

The Gauchos went 1-1 during their effort in Irvine, improving to 3-5 on the season thanks to a notch in the win column against the Anteaters. The weekend also presented a unique opportunity for the women as they played against men from the Claremont McKenna team. Despite losing 2-1, the Gauchos enjoyed the thrill of playing against stiff competition and took the opportunity to prepare themselves for the upcoming game against the Anteaters.

“We played against the guys and played well,” junior Charlotte Bouret said. “They had a good team, but we played with confidence and motivation which enabled us to stick with them.”

The effort against the Claremont team, which was mostly composed of men, set the stage for the conference game against the formidable foes of Irvine. Following their strong performance, the Gauchos said they were motivated to play an actual league game the following day.

In the match against Irvine, Santa Barbara shut out the Anteaters 3-0. Key scorers for UCSB included senior captain Shannon Carroll, freshman forward Kendall Jasco and senior forward Jennifer Adams. Each recorded a goal in the shutout, which was preserved by goalkeeper Lindsay Gary. Head Coach Scott Fillery prepared the team well during practice, Bouret said, and came out ready to play against two tough teams.

“We played well as team and that is because practice went well,” Bouret said. “We were energized and ready to improve our record this past weekend and things went as planned.”

Santa Barbara will host Cal Poly this Saturday before preparing for the conference finals in Davis, facing off against schools such as Claremont, UC Davis and Cal Poly.