In the midst of a disappointing season in conference play, the UCSB women’s soccer team lost a pair of road matches this weekend to Pacific and Davis.

The Gauchos fell 2-1 at Pacific on Friday, and 2-0 to Davis on Sunday to drop their overall record to 6-11-2 (1-6 Big West).

“One of the problems with the scheduling is that we had to play Friday night and they did not so they were a little bit fresher than we were,” Head Coach Paul Stumpf said of the team’s second match of the weekend. “In the second half we were pretty good. We were kind of on top of them, and then in the last 10 or so minutes we just kind of wore down and it kind of showed in the end.”

Davis (11-4-1 overall, 4-1-1 Big West) was held scoreless by Santa Barbara for most of the game until sophomore midfielder Ashley Edwards put the Aggies on the board in the 83rd minute. Senior midfielder Rachel Kahn increased the lead with her own goal in the 89th minute to close out the game.

“It was a little tough because we had so many chances and we couldn’t finish,” junior forward Dyanne Anderson said. “That’s what determined the game. They finished their crosses and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

Santa Barbara held the Aggie offense to 11 shots with four on goal while the Gauchos managed to shoot 12 times with four on goal. Davis is tied for first place in conference play with its fifth consecutive victory and has two matches against Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton remaining on their schedule.

“There was such a difference between the first and second half,” Stumpf said. “We didn’t play very well in the first half. In the beginning of the second half, for the first 25 to 30 minutes, we were all over them. We had chances to score and again didn’t. We played well enough to win, had looks at the goal and didn’t stick them in.”

Friday’s match against Pacific was not as close for the Gauchos, with the Tigers controlling the ball for most of the game, outshooting the Gauchos 21-7 and 8-4 on goal.

“They were so high-pressured and they knew everything that we were going to do,” Anderson said. “We held our ground and you know the last minute they always put something in.”

Junior midfielder Laura Hernandez scored first for Pacific in the 25th minute before junior defender Lauren Olvera increased the lead in the 52nd minute. UCSB finally got on the board in the 58th minute when senior defender Alyssa Benjamin scored her second goal of the season.

The Gauchos had a chance to tie the game with over 30 minutes left but could not find the back of the net on any of their shot opportunities, a problem that has plagued the team all season.

“It’s just those opportunities where you need to score and we didn’t,” Stumpf said.

With the victory, along with a loss to Cal Poly on Sunday, Pacific improved to 2-3-1 in the conference with an 8-7-1 record overall. The Tigers’ victory over Santa Barbara ended a two-game losing streak.

UCSB closes out the season on Friday when they host rival Cal Poly.

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