It took two overtimes to decide the outcome of the UCSB men’s soccer team’s match against UC Davis, in which the team prevailed 2-1 after junior midfielder Peter McGlynn slipped a goal past the Aggies in the 102nd minute.

[media-credit name=”Jeff Imamura” align=”alignleft” width=”250″][/media-credit]

Junior midfielder Gaby Okito uses his head as he tries to score. Saturday night’s match saw the Gauchos take 14 shots, four of them on goal and just one goal allowed in 102 minutes despite the team missing senior goalkeeper Sam Hayden in the net.

“When all else fails you put your Irish guys up front,” Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg said. “So that’s what we did and I guess it worked out.”

The win was the Gauchos’ first against a Big West opponent and its first win in five extra time matches played this season. UCSB, 4-3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference, is 1-2-2 in overtime matches. With the loss, the Aggies dropped to 2-7-0 overall and 0-1 in Big West play.

An early ninth-minute goal from sophomore forward Michael Nonni, who headed in a cross from junior defender James Kiffe, put the Gauchos on the board first.

“[The goal] was great,” Vom Steeg said. “It was just very unfortunate we were unable to sustain it for the whole first half. We ended up facing a very compact defense, but we stayed after it and got the goal so I [was] pretty excited.”

The Aggies quickly responded with a header of their own, this time from midfielder Lance Patterson off of a rebound in the box that he slipped past UCSB’s freshman goalkeeper Eric Reyes. Reyes started for the Gauchos in place of senior goalkeeper Sam Hayden, who was ineligible to play due to a red card he received in the Fullerton match.

“When Sam got the red on Wednesday, coach just told me to get ready mentally,” Reyes said. “He told me it’s just another game. Yes, we need to win this game, but stay calm and don’t try to play Sam’s game, play your game. That was the key coming out there.”

Their header in the 33rd minute would be the Aggies only goal of the match. Reyes saved two of Davis’s three shots on goal.

Despite dominating the Aggies throughout the match, attempting more shots and maintaining possession of the ball for more time, UCSB found itself heading into overtime. Of the squad’s 14 shots, none was more important than junior midfielder Peter McGlynn’s in the 102nd minute, in which junior midfielder Danny Barrera hit a cross into the box that McGlynn deflected off his head past the Davis defense and goalkeeper.

“It’s unbelievable,” McGlynn said to UCSB Athletics after the game. “It was such a team effort and we all worked so hard for it; we deserved this win.”

After having no trouble putting up so many shots during the game, Vom Steeg knew that eventually one of them had to go in.

“In the back of your mind you’re waiting for something bad to happen, and we were very cognizant of the fact that it’s going to be on a set piece, it’s going to be on a free kick,” Vom Steeg said. “We were able to get that goal and now we can move on and see if we can avenge the game against Fullerton.”

The Gauchos will look to improve their conference record this week when they play their Fullerton rematch on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Harder Stadium.

[media-credit name=”Jeff Imamura” align=”alignleft” width=”250″][/media-credit]

Junior midfielder Gaby Okito uses his head as he tries to score. Saturday night’s match saw the Gauchos take 14 shots, four of them on goal and just one goal allowed in 102 minutes despite the team missing senior goalkeeper Sam Hayden in the net.

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