Oct. 23, 2001

The Schedule
Match No. 15
Friday, October 26, 2001, 7:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at UC Irvine Anteaters

Match No. 16
Sunday, October 28, 2001, 1:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at Long Beach State 49ers

The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara enters the week with an overall record of 7-6-1 and a Big West mark of 3-1. Since opening the season at 0-3, the Gauchos have gone 7-3-1. UCSB has actually been more successful on the road than at home, posting a 4-3-0 record away from home, and a 3-3-1 record at home.

The Opposition
This weekend's Big West matches at UC Irvine and Long Beach State are tremendously important for the Gauchos. At 3-1-1, the Anteaters are one point ahead of the UCSB in the league standings. At 3-2-0, Long Beach State is tied with the Gauchos, each having nine points.

UCSB Sweeps Big West Weekend
The Gauchos recorded back-to-back Big West shutouts on the weekend, defeating Utah State 1-0, and the University of Idaho 2-0. The wins give UCSB a 3-1-0 record in league, good for nine points and it moves them into fourth-place in the Big West, one point behind Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine (3-1-1, ten points), and five points back of first-place Cal State Fullerton (5-1-0, 15 points).

Borcich Continues To Lead The Way
Freshman forward Jen Borcich scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season in Sunday's win over the University of Idaho. In addition, she assisted on the other goal in the match, giving her a team-high five assists, and 17 points on the season Her 17 total points not only leads the team by five, but it is six more than last year's team-leader Alex Richey had. In a September 28 win over Weber State, Borcich scored three goals, becoming the first Gaucho player in eight years to record a hat trick. Borcich, in fact, has scored all six of her goals in the last seven contests, and six of the last ten scored by the Gauchos as a team.

Krystal Klear
While Borcich took a few matches to emerge, freshman midfielder Krystal Sandza hit the ground running, and has continued to play a key role in UCSB's offense. Sandza scored a pair of goals in the UCSB's opener against the University of San Diego, and after scoring one in Sunday's win over Idaho, she now has five. Sandza also assisted on the Gauchos' lone goal in a win over Utah State, giving her two assists, and 12 points on the season.

Tightening The Defense
UCSB opened the season with an 0-3 record. More distressing was the fact that the team had allowed 11 goals in the three losses, a goals against average of 3.67. Since those first three contests, however, the Gauchos have tightened things up, allowing just nine goals in the last 11 matches, recording a goals against average of 0.79. Over the 11 match span, UCSB has posted four shutouts, and given up just one goal in five other matches.

How Sweet It Is: Gleason Emerges
Senior goalkeeper Mary Gleason has been a major part of the Gauchos' improved defensive efforts. After a slow start, Gleason has picked up the pace, recording four shutouts in the last ten matches. On the season, her goals against average is now 1.11, its lowest point of the year. With four shutouts, Gleason now has 16 in her career, the fourth highest total in school history. Additionally, with 67 saves on the year, Gleason now has 329, the most in school history.

UCSB Surpasses 2000 Goal Output
It took UCSB 13 matches to surpass last year's goal total. In 2000, the Gauchos scored 19 goals in 19 matches, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out their average of 1.0 per contest. This year, UCSB hit the 20 goal mark in match number 13, and now, after 14 matches, the Gauchos have tallied 22 goals, an average of 1.6 per outing. Of UCSB's 22 goals, 14 have been scored by freshmen Borcich (6), Sandza (5), Erin Griswold (2), and Stephanie Thayer (1).