SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara battled to a scoreless draw in women's soccer action Thursday night under foggy conditions at Harder Stadium.
The Tritons (1-8-5 overall, 0-2-3) earned their second clean sheet during Big West action. UC Santa Barbara is now 2-6-6 on the season (1-1-3 Big West).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The match opened with a quick strike by UCSB's Elise Ziem in the fifth minute, but her left-footed shot attempt hit off the crossbar. Less than two minutes later, Triton captain
Kennedy Carter fired a shot on frame, but it was stopped by Gauchos' keeper Evann Smith.
UC San Diego earned its first corner of the match in the 19th minute. Shortly thereafter,
Ashlynn Kolarik raced down the left side and ripped a shot from nine yards out that was saved by Smith over the end line, earning UC San Diego its second corner. A third corner kick came thirty seconds later for UC San Diego. This time,
Kennedy Carter fired a shot, but it was off target.
The Tritons had a great opportunity in the 28th minute when Carter was sprinting in towards the 18. Smith came off her line to challenge and made a tackle outside the box, tripping up Carter to break up the play with no whistle. In the 30th minute, Carter beat two defenders and had a great look from the top of the box on the right side, but her shot sailed just wide.
In the final minute of the first half,
Sophia Bruno was whistled for a foul setting up a free kick for the Gauchos deep in Triton territory. The set piece resulted in a UCSB corner kick, but time expired shortly after the ball was put in play.
UC Santa Barbara held a slim 5-4 shot advantage in the first half, earning five corner kicks to three for the Tritons.
In the second half, both teams pressed ahead but the defenses remained stout. In the 85th minute, the Gauchos had their best opportunity of the period when Ziem had a point-blank shot from in deep, but
Keara Fitzgerald made the stop to keep the match scoreless.
Fitzgerald finished with three saves. The Tritons earned a season-high seven corner kicks in the draw.
QUOTABLE
"We had a big week this week and took the time to reflect on where we were. We had good conversations and good training sessions leading into tonight, and everybody was bought in today – and that showed in our effort," said UC San Diego head coach
Kristin Jones '04. "Tina [Oddone] was big piece to our game plan and she did everything we asked. One big positive is that we handled their corner kicks very well and we were very disciplined on free kicks all night long. While it would've been great to get the win, this one felt good."
TRITON TIDBITS
- Fitzgerald is The Big West leader in saves with 77 in 2022.
- Senior Christina Oddone made her third consecutive start in the midfield for UC San Diego, playing all 90 minutes in the midfield.
- UC San Diego earned its first-ever result against the Gauchos in 14 meetings. UC Santa Barbara had won the previous 13 including a 2-1 victory in the lone Division I contest last season in La Jolla.
- The draw was the Tritons' fourth away from home this season.
UP NEXT
The Tritons return to La Jolla to host Hawai'i on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. It's Junior Triton Club Night Out at Triton Soccer Stadium with free admission for all. The match will also be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats for that contest on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
