May 21, 2003

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Krystal Sandza, a sophomore midfielder on the UC Santa Barbara women's soccer team, has been voted the UCSBgauchos.com Female Athlete of the Year, outdistancing volleyball's Danielle Bauer 295-262 in the voting.

Sandza led the 2002 Gauchos to a 13-5-2 overall record and a second-place finish in the Big West Conference. She scored a league-record 25 goals. In addition, Sandza added eight assists for 58 points, also a new league standard. Following the year, the Poway, Calif. native was selected the Big West's Offensive Player of the Year, First Team All-Big West, First Team All-Region By Soccer Buzz, Second Team All-Region by the NSCAA, and Honorable Mention All-American. In addition to a Big West record, Sandza's 25-goal total was the highest by a Gaucho player since 1984 when Carin Jennings scored a school-record 34. The 25 goals was the third highest total in school history and the most by any player with the exception of Jennings, a four-time All-American, a two-time U.S. Soccer Federation Female Athlete of the Year and one of only two female members in the United States Soccer Hall of Fame.

Last season, in a match at Air Force, Sandza set a UCSB and Big West record by scoring five goals. In that match, she also had an assist and a record 11 total points. Not only did she have a five-goal match, Sandza also had hat tricks in contests against TCU and Nevada. In her first two seasons, she has been a two-time First Team All-Big West choice, she has tallied 32 goals (fourth all-time at UCSB), 11 assists and 75 points (seventh all-time).

Bauer, a First Team All-American, Big West Conference Player of the Year and First Team All-Big West choice, helped guide the UCSB women's volleyball team to the Big West Championship, to its first-ever unbeaten season in Big West play and the NCAA Sweet 16.

Lindsay Taylor of the Gaucho women's basketball team, was the Big West Player of the Year, First Team All-Big West and Honorable Mention All-American. She led UCSB to the league crown and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Taylor received 191 votes.

Uzma Khan, the Big West Women's Tennis Player of the Year, finished fourth in the polling with 47 votes, and softball's Jami Trinidad, a Second Team All-American and First Team All-Big West catcher, finished third with 35.