The Westmont men’s soccer team snapped a 16-match losing streak against UC Santa Barbara, handing the Gauchos a 2-1 loss in an exhibition game at Harder Stadium on Saturday night.
Midfielder Augie Andrade assisted on the first goal and scored the second for the Warriors in the annual Bryant & Sons Cup between the crosstown rivals. UCSB leads the series 27-24-4.
“We were tired of losing to them,” Andrade said after the match. “It’s an exhibition game for both teams, but we wanted to send a statement to all other schools. People will look at us and say, ‘Wow, that small school beat UCSB.’”
Andrade popped a corner kick over a scrum of Gaucho defenders and teammate Blake Homan booted it off the crossbar and into the net for a 1-0 led in the 23rd minute. Andrade made it 2-0 in the 83rd minute. He stopped a Gaucho burst at the defensive end, took off the other way on a 2-on-1 breakaway with Gabriel McEwen and beat goalkeeper Titouan Le Roux, who replaced starter Alan Carillo in the second half.
UCSB’s lone score came in the final seconds of play, as sophomore forward Derek Kryzda barreled through a more relaxed Westmont backline to run in a goal past goalie Lalo Delgado.
Gaucho freshman forward Rodney Michael was aggressive early, nagging the opposing attackers. He was equally ardent in setting up his teammates with crossing balls into the penalty area. The strikers, however, struggled to convert against the scrambling Westmont defenders.
The Gauchos were playing without star senior midfielder Kevin Feucht, who suffered a torn ACL in his left knee on the first day of practice and was lost for the entire 2017 season.
“When you lose the quarterback of your offense, you have to find totally new ways to score,” UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg said. “Kevin is the team’s emotional leader, and that’s what you miss in a game like tonight.
“But at some point you need to stop talking about it and find other ways to do things.”
Westmont coach Dave Wolf said he was pleased with his team’s defensive play, especially on UCSB’s set pieces.
He noted that getting the goal early in the first half helped “cement” the team’s belief that they could win the match.
“I think it’s an interesting game in that it means everything and nothing at the same time,” Wolf said. “This is for our guys. This is their moment. Half our guys wanted to play here!
“But it’ll be training camp before the game and it’ll still be training camp after the game.”
— Noozhawk intern Shomik Mukherjee can be reached at smukherjee@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.