After what was a very positive and successful weekend to begin the month of March, the Tritons were looking to continue their good momentum as they travelled up to play UC Santa Barbara on a sunny Sunday afternoon. In what would be their last league game of the Winter quarter, the Tritons looked to keep pace with league-leading UCLA.

Hoping to get the win that would guarantee their qualification for the WCSA playoffs in April, the Tritons started with Zachary Cochran in goal; with Alejandro Covarrubias, Jaydon Galindo Lovell and Lucas Sherles in defense; with Arya Abolmaali, Jorge Rodriguez, Lucas Venetoulias, and Antonio Lopez in midfield; and, lastly, with Owen Reiss, Nick Shor, and Kalani Takamura in attack.

The Tritons did not get off to a great start. With the Gaucho’s selectively aggressive press, the Tritons did not build-out as effectively as they had in previous games, opting instead for what was a more long-ball approach in the hopes of exploiting UCSB’s high backline. They were hoping to make use of Kalani Takamura’s and Nick Shor’s speed in order to create goal-scoring opportunities, and a couple of long balls in behind proved to give the UCSB defense some trouble. However, the Tritons were struggling to hold their own in their defensive shape, and a couple of well-structured counterattacks by UCSB allowed them to create some good chances to take the lead. After a turnover in possession in midfield, a UCSB winger made a run-in-behind, and a good ball through the Triton defense gave the winger a one-on-one. He calmly finished the chance and gave UCSB the 1-0 lead. The rest of the first half was mostly uneventful: the Tritons managed to solidify their defensive shape and to limit the dangerous attacks the Gauchos created, while UCSB became more concerned with maintaining their shape when in-possession. In the end, the half ended with the Tritons trailing 1-0. 

The Tritons made some adjustments to start the second half, and a more aggressive and attacking press really caught UCSB off guard. They began making mistakes in their build-out, and the Tritons were eager to capitalize. A succession of turnovers near the UCSB box gave the Tritons two good opportunities on goal: a left-footed effort by Lucas Venetoulias was saved by the UCSB goalkeeper and Shor saw an effort of his just go wide of the near post. Encouraged by their attacking start, the Tritons pushed for the equalizer, but that left them susceptible to more UCSB counterattacks. On one such counterattack, the Gauchos managed to put in a cross from the left-hand side towards the penalty spot, and although the UCSB player won his header, the referee awarded a penalty for what seemed to be a truly non-existent foul. Despite the protests from the Tritons, the referee seemed convinced there was a foul, giving the Gauchos an opportunity to double their lead. But Cochran made up his mind early and got a big right-hand to the penalty, saving it off the post and bouncing on the rebound before any outfield player could get to it. 

The save by Cochran gave the Tritons more life to get the equalizing goal, and with just over 15 minutes left in the game, they found it. A well-timed and well-executed press meant Sherles could step into midfield and intercept a lazy pass by a UCSB center back. After a couple of passes, the ball found its way to Antonio Lopez just inside the penalty box. He took one touch towards the inside onto his right foot to beat the onrushing defender before calmly beating the goalkeeper at the near post to tie the game. Now a 1-1 game, the Tritons felt they had been given the chance to snatch all three points. However, it was not meant to be as a cross from the right-hand side to the back post and a free header by a UCSB attacker gave the Gauchos the lead with less than five minutes to play. While the Tritons tried to equalize again, the time proved to be too little, and the Gauchos came away with a 2-1 win at home. 

While the Tritons made it a game in the second half with their adjustments and their more aggressive high press, their first half showing was what frustrated the Tritons the most. They seemed to be off-color in the first half, unable to dictate the game as they would have liked; they were too sluggish on the ball and not aggressive enough off it. All that said, results went in favor of UCSD, and they ended the weekend third in the league standings and in a comfortable position for the upcoming WCSA playoffs. They have a chance to climb back up to 2nd if they win their last home game of the year against USD in early April. The USD game should be good preparation for the WCSA playoffs, and it will be a nice home send-off for all of the graduating seniors on the Tritons squad.