Trailing for most of the match, the UCSB women’s soccer team was able to salvage a 1-1 tie on the road at Cal State Bakersfield in double overtime game Sunday night. With the tie in their final nonconference game of the season, the Gauchos improve to 5-5-2 on the year.
“The tie was unfortunate,” sophomore midfielder Erica Shelton said. “We got caught off guard but from then on we dominated.”
Bakersfield started off with a bang when freshman midfielder Emily Noethe sent a header off the crossbar and into the goal just twenty seconds into the game.
“Our defense kind of broke down,” junior midfielder Dyanne Anderson said. “We didn’t expect it and they scored. It was surreal.”
Santa Barbara regrouped going forward and outshot Bakersfield 14 to 8 on the game, with an 8 to 3 advantage in shots on goal.
“We had that game the whole time,” Shelton said. “We had chances to put it in the goal, we just need to work on putting those away.”
Despite outperforming the Roadrunners for the majority of the match, the Gauchos did not get onto the board until Shelton’s unassisted goal in the 77th minute, her second in as many games.
UCSB added three additional shots in the remaining 13 minutes but came up short, forcing overtime. In the first overtime period, UCSB and Bakersfield each had one unsuccessful shot on goal.
“It’s nice [to score] but we just need to be able to put the chances away,” Shelton said.
UCSB was outshot two to zero in the second overtime, but managed to hold onto the tie and avoid a losing nonconference schedule.
“We controlled the whole game,” Anderson said. “We fought all the way back and scored.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Makenna Henry made two saves on three shots on goal, as the Gaucho’s defense was strong once again, allowing their first goal in the previous three games combined.