Dec. 3, 2006

By Matt Auxier

Special to CSTV.com

The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara lassoed their first College Cup Championship with a 2-1 victory over the UCLA on Sunday. The Gauchos are the first unseeded team to win the College Cup since 2000, when Connecticut accomplished the same feat.

Despite the icy weather in St. Louis, UCSB came out hot and took the attack right to the flat-footed Bruins. The Gauchos forced their grinding attack and strong runs through the attacking third while shutting down the UCLA ground game.

UCSB jumped on the board early when forward Nick Perera buried a six-yard strike in the third minute. Perera's chance came when midfielder Tyler Rosenlund carried the ball to the end line and passed it to Perera, who stood at the top of the goal area unmarked. Perera's shot beat UCLA goalkeeper Eric Reed to the left side of the net.

"It definitely takes a lot of pressure off of us," Perera said of his early goal. "When you're one goal in, it doesn't hurt you very much when you have a corner kick against you."

Perera was named the College Cup's Most Outstanding Offensive Player for his efforts during Sunday's match.

The Gauchos continued to attack through the early going, and the pressure yielded chances. Perera had another early chance after receiving a through ball that sprung him past the Bruin back line in the eight minute. Perera's shot slid past Reed, but clanged harmlessly off the face of the left post.

UCLA recovered from the early press to even out the tempo of the match. After establishing their precise ground attack through the midfield, the Bruins began creating opportunities of their own. Some keen passing around the penalty area resulted in a 22 yard shot from the feet of Mike Zaher, but the ball sailed just over the cross bar.

The posts continued to stay friendly to the Bruins, as Rosenlund beat the UCLA defense in a virtual replay of Perera's chance, and fired a shot off the left post. The Gauchos recovered the rebound and continued to threaten on the play before Perera pushed the ball over the end line for a goal kick.

Even as the clock wound down in the first half, the Gaucho pressure remained. Defender Andy Iro elevated on a corner kick with two and a half minutes remaining to put the ball on goal, but Reed proved equal to the task, and swatted the ball over the bar.

Halftime did not stall the Gaucho attack, as they came out of the break intent on continuing their relentless pressure. UCSB first got a sniff at the goal in the 55th minute when midfielder Eric Frimpong's heavy shot sailed right into the hands of Reed.

The Gauchos tallied their second goal in the 61st minute when Rosenlund sprung midfielder Bryan Byrne on the right flank with a chip over the Bruin defense. Byrne gathered the ball along the sideline and brought it in to the top of the penalty area. From there, Byrne found Perera amongst four attacking Gauchos in the middle of the penalty area. Perera's second-touch pass found a streaking Eric Avila, who tucked a one-time shot just inside the left post.

UCLA halved the lead in the 78th minute following a free kick. Midfielder Tony Beltran threaded a ball through the penalty area to forward Jason Leopoldo just short of the goal line. Leopoldo sent a low ball through the goal area that deflected into the center net. The Bruins' Chance Myers slid through the goal area after the ball, but his touch was not needed, as the ball rolled across the line, unaided.

UCLA's Zaher nearly tied the match two minutes later on a well-struck free kick from just outside the penalty area. Zaher bent the free kick around the Gaucho wall, but goalkeeper Kyle Reynish dove to his left and punched the ball clear of the post.

The Bruins built an attack through the waning seconds of regulation, but Iro cleared a header out of the penalty area. A UCLA foul with 18 seconds left on the clock led to a clearance and the championship for the Bruins.

"First and foremost, it's obviously a disappointing way to end the season. We had such great performances in the playoffs," said UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo. "Today was a bad day for us; we just didn't play well. As much as we talked about going into the game with the right mentality and the right approach, I just don't think that took place."

"We didn't have any rhythm today and couldn't find service to the forwards," Salcedo said.

The Bruins only mustered three shots in the first half, and ended the game with 11 against UCSB's 15.

"This is as exciting as it could be. People talk about winning a national championship, but you don't know how it feels until you're out there," said Gauchos head coach Tim Vom Steeg. "We usually followed a poor performance with a good one. Secondly, as I told you yesterday, I liked the match-up against UCLA because we're very familiar with them."

The victory stands as the university's second National Championship, with the other coming in men's water polo in 1979. The Gauchos advanced to the College Cup finals in 2004, but fell to Indiana on penalty kicks.