May. 12th, 2004 - Santa Barbara Beats Ducks to Advance to Semis and 'Noma Rematch
Santa Barbara Beats Ducks to Advance to Semis and 'Noma Rematch
Article By Rene Kozarsky
Fenton, MO - In the last quarterfinal gave on Wednesday; the top seeded Gauchos opened an 8-2 lead on the eighth seeded Oregon Ducks. That lead would hold up the entire game, as Santa Barbara advanced to the MDIA semifinals on Friday with 12-5 win.
The Gauchos, who beat the Ducks 14-8 in the regular season, out shot the Ducks 20-3 in the opening period. But just like that character from those insurance commercials, the Ducks kept hanging around. The Ducks settled in and put in two straight goals, including opportunistic garbage goal from Taylor Schofield and an outside cannon shot from Matt Connors. Oregon Head Coach Josh Barbour tired to explain his team's difficulties in the first half.
"They gave us trouble, their defense is pretty aggressive. They were pressuring us really hard and made us work for each possession. Especially in that first quarter, we had problems adjusting to that pressure. We really didn't start getting good possessions until the second quarter."
But it was the play of Duck goalie Nathan Cordova enabled the Ducks to stay in the game. The Gauchos peppered Cordova with 23 shots between the second and third quarters, but the sophomore from Portland, OR saved 12 shots in that period, many of which being of the highlight film variety, keeping his team within striking distance.
"In the second quarter, I felt like I was moving to the ball much better. In the first quarter the lefty #22 (Hank Caulkins) really tore me apart. After that I really got into the game," added Cordova after the game.
But the Gauchos were too strong and pulled away in the fourth quarter. UCSB eventually made it 12-5 and that's how it would it end.
"I think UCSB is great. Our goal this year was to win the PNCLL and make to St. Louis. To achieve our goal is great; beating Boston College yesterday was great. To make it to St. Louis and to win in St. Louis is a great achievement for these guys. Especially coming from where we were three years ago," added Oregon Head Coach Josh Barbour after the game.
The Gauchos advance to take on WCLL foe Sonoma State in the semis on Friday. Santa Barbara junior Luke Wilson spoke about the match up on Friday.
"I'm looking forward to playing against Sonoma again this year. I have some friends from high school on the team. It's really cool that after all of our years playing high school lacrosse when we were younger and how we have branched off to different places and to have our teams compete at the highest level of our league-it's really exciting."
UCSB Head Coach Mike Allan had his own take on the WCLL rematch.
"They area very good team, a very well coached team. They are a team we saw earlier in the year on a sloppy day with pouring rain. We know they are ready for us. So it's going to be a very interesting game."