May. 14th, 2004 - UCSB Routs Noma, Headed to Finals Again
UCSB Routs Noma, Headed to Finals Again
Article By Rene Kozarsk
FENTON, MO - For the second straight year, the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos will be participating in the MDIA Championship game. The Gauchos built a huge lead early and trounced their WCLL rival, The Sonoma State Seawolves, 15-5.
The Gauchos open up heavy early, bombing the Seawolves for nine first half goals, including a run of six straight during a nine minute stretch between the first and second quarters. Noma could only muster two first half goals. SSU was on the ropes, but not out. Well not until just before the half, when UCSB's Will Patton, with time expiring fired a desperation pass from the far right wing. That pass found teammate Tom Wilson who buried an eight yard shot with just 1.8 seconds left before halftime. The crowd at the AB Sports Center could feel the Noma bench's disappointment. The goal seemed to be the dagger that would halt any Seawolf comeback. But no one told that to Noma senior M.J. Crickmore.
"One thing that we pride ourselves with here at Sonoma is that we never give up. It could be 16-1 and we would still feel like we could come back."
Unfortunately for M.J. and the Seawolves no comeback was in store. The lead just got to be too much and the Gauchos advanced to Saturday's championship with a 15-5 win.
"They (UCSB) remind me a lot of the team that we had when we won it all. They have a very powerful defense, a dangerous offense, and they are very athletic between the boxes," commented Sonoma Head Coach Doug Carl after the game.
"The recipe to win this thing is no secret, you have to be a balanced team, a deep team, and you have to be a little bit lucky. Tomorrow's game should be exciting."
The Gauchos rolled in part to an outstanding performance by attackman Luke Wilson. The junior from St. Ignatius High School in California scored a game high total of nine points on seven goals and two assists. Wilson had four goals and two assists, in the first half alone.
"Our middies were able to get a jump on their midfielders, which caused the defenseman to slide and with that happening I became wide open on the backside crease."
That he did, finishing numerous lay-ups from early slides.
"The middies just made the pass and I was just able to finish them."
Even UCSB Head Coach Mike Allan was a little surprised with the lopsided score.
"I really didn't think we would jump out they way we did. I knew we were ready for this game. We really knew each other very well. It basically came down to who came out stronger."
But Allan was concerned with a possible Sonoma run.
"We expected them to make a run. We kept ourselves on our toes, waiting for the run. Fortunately we were able to play pretty steady throughout and the kept margin to where it was."
So Santa Barbara is off to the second consecutive Championship appearance, this time with a first year head coach. But he sees something special in his squad.
"Down the line we have a great group of guys. We're really deep and with so much character on this team, it's been a really fun team to coach."