The defense was solid, the goalkeeper made a couple of diving saves and got help from the post.
Even with all that, the UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer team still found itself on the losing end of a 1-0 non conference match against Cornell at Harder Stadium on Friday night.
The Big Red scored the game winner in the 89th minute, with Liam May taking a cross from Sergio Zapata and beating Gaucho goalkeeper Luke Skinner with a low shot inside the near post.
It was a disappointing result for UCSB, which played a strong match against a quality opponent. The back three of freshman Cole Harris, Haruki Utsumi and center back Jacob Blach turned in a solid effort and Skinner played with confidence in the goal.
But they didn’t receive enough support from teammates as Cornell threatened during crunch time.
UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg said breakdowns at the defensive end in the last minutes of first halves and near the end of games have been an issue in the early season.
“It’s a recurring problem in terms of leadership on the field with a couple of minutes left, to get everybody back and tucked in,” he explained. “It’s obviously a top-20 opponent and it’s a good team, but we certainly had enough looks to do something. It’s a 0-0 game and we all walk away and feel OK about life. They had a couple (of chances) and we had a couple and then you walk away. But, again, we’re the ones that are more likely to bend right before half and right before the end of the game.”
Blach, a junior from Denmark, held down the center back spot nicely in place of the injured Andrew Kamienski. He was clean on clearances and showed great speed when running down free balls in the area.
Utsumi and the freshman Harris played well in the outside positions. Harris was in for Peleg Brown, who suffered a season-ending injury.
It was an intense game, with few serious scoring chances. The teams combined for 38 fouls (Cornell had 21) and there were eight yellow cards.
UCSB’s Steinar Bjornsson unleashed a rocket shot from 30 yards that forced Cornell goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg to make a diving save in the 34th minute.
Skinner came up big on a nice passing sequence in the box by Cornell in the 42nd minute, diving on the ball before the Big Red could get off a shot.
Cornell All-American midfielder Connor Miller made a spectacular individual effort in the 43rd minute. He leapt out of two tackles to retain possession before delivering a cross to the far post that sailed just out of reach of a sprinting Zapata.
Miller hammered a rising shot on goal in the 62nd minute but Skinner made a leaping save, tipping the ball over the bar.
Gaucho forward Buba Fofanah was handful for the Big Red defense. He broke through several players many times, but the Gauchos failed to cash in on his crowd-pleasing runs.
“We got to be able to get something off of what he’s doing for us,” said Vom Steeg.
The Gauchos almost broke through in the 79th minute on a free kick by Bjornsson. He sent the ball to the far post and just missed connecting with Utsumi.
Moments later, Cornell’s Kasper Wollstein got free on a breakaway but his shot hit the right post.
The Big Red made a couple more charges at goal. In the 83rd minute, Miller finished a nice combination play but the goal was nullified by an offsides call. Three minutes later, Wollstein had a clear shot from the top of the box but it was blocked by Haruki.
Cornell (2-0) finally broke through for the game winner against an undermanned UCSB defense behind the ball.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed because we had them here,” said Vom Steeg, who is 0-3 against the Ivy League school. “At worst, it’s a 0-0 tie and we just kind of move on from there.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Gauchos (2-2). Their next two matches are at University of San Diego and at No. 2-ranked Marshall, last year’s NCAA College Cup runner-up.
