It’s been a fun 24 hours for UCSB women’s soccer forward Devin Greer.
On Saturday night, the Gauchos’ top offensive weapon this season was named the Big West Freshman of the Year.
Then, on Sunday evening at Harder Stadium, Greer delivered a game-winning shot in the 72nd minute to give the Gauchos a 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the 2024 Big West Women’s Soccer Championship.
“I hadn’t had a shot in the game yet to that point and I just decided to take [the Cal State defender] on and I saw to my left that didn’t have that covered, so I cut it back in and aimed for the back post and won it,” Greer said.
With the victory, UCSB advances to play No. 2 seed UC Davis in the semifinal round. It is the Gauchos’ first appearance in the semifinal round since 2021. The Titans close the 2024 season with an overall record of 6-10-4.
“We talked today about playing with courage, playing relentlessly and with some intensity, which I think they brought to life for the entire game today,” UCSB coach Paul Stumpf said.
For 65 minutes, the two teams battled to a 0-0 draw — but it wasn’t from a lack of offense. By that point in the contest, UCSB had registered eight shots, more than half of which were on goal while Fullerton was right behind them with six shots.
Both offenses were stepping up to the plate, but defenders and both keepers were there to make solid plays.
“Fullerton is known for being an exceptionally good defense team, and that’s part of the reason why they’ve been to they’ve won big West tournament championships, and been in the NCAA Tournament,” Stumpf said.
In the 65th minute, however, it was a Gaucho mistake that gave the Titans life. Sophomore forward Olivia Howard was chasing down Fullerton’s Isabella Cruz, but committed a foul in the box, giving the Titans a penalty kick.
Fullerton’s Kaylin Raibon converted to give her team the 1-0 lead on the road.
“It was not my best moment,” Howard said. “But I knew the only way to make it up to my team was to score.”
Howard did just that — and only 30 seconds later. A steal by senior defender O’Callaghan Liu led to a pass that eventually found Greer.
Greer passed the ball into the right-hand side of the box to Caitlyn Simons, who controlled it, played it back toward the middle of the box and found Howard, who then knocked it in to tie the contest.
“I knew I had to score so when the perfect ball came, it was the perfect opportunity to hit it the first time and so I did, and fortunately, I hit the back of the net,” Howard said.
Stumpf added that the shot was also “a very difficult finish.”
“That ball was coming very fast across the face net and it is easy to put that ball over. But the way she hit it so cleanly, stretching the back of the net, it was a well-crafted goal by the team,” he said.
A few minutes later, it was Greer’s turn to be the hero. In the 72nd minute, Greer got the ball around midfield and took her defender one-on-one the whole way, getting it into the box.
Once there, she made a move to the inside, put a curve on the ball and found the bottom left corner of the net, giving Fullerton’s keeper no good angle to defend the beautifully placed ball.
“We’ve been working on shaping balls around and she bent it purposefully. It was a very well-shaped ball into that area and I was so glad when it hit the inside the post instead of the top of the post,” Stumpf said.
The freshman who scored six goals this season (now seven) — the second most ever made by a Gaucho freshman trailing only Mallory Hromatko — did not shy away from the moment even in her first postseason game.
“It was probably the best postseason game,” Greer said. “There was a lot of pressure, and I love the competition out there, so I’m glad we get to play another one.”
From there, the Gauchos held strong, closing out the Titans’ final three attempts at an equalizer over the final 17 minutes. Goalkeeper Maddie Buckley recorded three saves from nine Titans’ shots faced.
“Every time the ball is up in the air, you have to be the first to it,” Howard said. “As a team, we know if we can be the first to get our head on the ball in the air, they’re not going to score and fortunately, it worked for us today, and we were very aggressive in the box, which really allowed us to clear balls.
“And Maddie was huge for us, and she’s been huge for us all year.”
The Gauchos now turn their attention to UC Davis, who beat UCSB earlier this year 1-0 just a couple of weeks ago at Harder Stadium.
“The score doesn’t always reflect the game and I think that was a game where the score did not reflect the game so I’m really excited to play them again, and potentially, head to the championship,” she said.
UCSB takes on UC Davis on Thursday, Nov. 7 from Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium on O’ahu at 6 p.m.