The UCSB men’s lacrosse team looks to remain unbeaten this weekend at home against Claremont on Saturday. The game has been chosen as the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference game of the week and will be shown live on Youtube at youtube.com/thelacrossenetwork at 1 p.m.
“Having the game broadcast on Youtube is great because it gives our program the opportunity to be seen by all of our fans and a large pool of potential recruits, as well. It’s a chance to showcase our program on a national level,” Head Coach Mike Allan said.
This will be the first league game for the Gauchos, who are coming in with a perfect 3-0 record and sit atop their division. Chapman (3-1), Claremont (2-1), UCLA (2-1), and Loyola Marymount (1-2) round out the rest of the division.
“The Claremont game is a big one for us because it is our first league game and making the league playoffs is the first step to achieving our goals for the season,” Coach Allan said. “They are a solid team that is very well coached, so we are going to need to be effective in all phases of the game on Saturday to come out with a win.”
In their wins over Stanford, Chico State and UC Davis, the Gauchos have outscored their opponents 35-25. UCSB’s balanced offensive attack is led by junior attack Andy Lihani with seven goals and senior midfielder and captain Taylor Gilbert with six.
“One of the strengths of our team this year is our balance on offense. We are very confident in our ability to attack the opposing defense in a variety of ways with various players. Andy and Taylor have produced consistently for us so far, and we’re going to need them to continue to contribute at the offensive end.”
The Gauchos will have to contain Claremont’s senior midfielder Jamil Karriem who leads the team in points (7) and is tied for the team lead in goals (5) with freshman midfielder Connor Schlegel.