Nov. 7, 2002

The Schedule
Match No. 20
Friday, November 8, 2002, 7:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at Cal Poly Mustangs
at Cal Poly's Mustang Stadium

Here's The Deal
The deal is pretty simple, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will play for the 2002 Big West women's soccer title in San Luis Obispo on Friday night. The task is a little different for the two teams. The Gauchos must win to take the championship, but the Mustangs can win or tie to claim the title. The Big West Champion will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and the chances of a Big West school receiving an at-large berth are slim. So, that's the deal.

The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara enters their regular season finale at Cal Poly with an overall record of 13-4-2 and a Big West mark of 6-1-1. The Gauchos lost their first league outing of the season on Sunday, a heartbreaking 4-3 double-overtime defeat at Cal State Fullerton. The Titans scored a goal in the 105th-minute to win the match. UCSB, which trailed 3-1 late in regulation, scored two goals in the final seven minutes to send the match to overtime.

Streak Was Longest Since 1990
The loss at Cal State Fullerton was not only UCSB's first Big West loss this season, it also snapped a four-game winning streak and a nine-game unbeaten string. Two days prior to the loss at Fullerton, the Gauchos blanked UC Riverside 2-0 to extend the streaks to four and nine. The unbeaten string of nine in a row was the longest in 12 years. The 1990 Gauchos opened the season with a 12-0-1 record and a 13 match unbeaten streak, a streak that remains the longest in school history. In 1989, UCSB won 12 matches in a row, also a school record.

Sandza Cracks Continues To Shine, Breaks Big West Scoring Record
Sophomore midfielder Krystal Sandza scored three more goals in the matches at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton. Her final goal of the weekend came in the 87th-minute against the Titans and it sent the match into overtime. With three goals, Sandza now has 25 on the season, a new Big West record. She broke the previous record of 23 set by North Texas' Christy Johnson in 1987. In addition, her 25 goals ranks Sandza third on UCSB's single-season list, one back of the second-place spot. She also has eight assists for a total of 58 points, the sixth highest total in school history. Sandza has scored at least one goal in 13 matches this year and she has scored more than one goal on seven occasions, including a school-record five goal performance on October 6 at Air Force. In her two seasons, the native of Poway has scored 32 goals, fourth on UCSB's career list, 11 assists and 75 points, seventh on UCSB's all-time list.

Borcich Does Her Part
The other half of UCSB's super sophomore tandem, forward Jennifer Borcich, has also been on fire lately. On the year, she has scored 17 goals and assisted on seven others for 41 points. After a mid-season lull, she has scored a goal in seven consecutive matches, notching nine over that span. The 17 goals ranks ninth on the Gauchos' single-season list. Borcich led the team in goals, assists and points last season and in her two years, she has now scored 28 goals, sixth most all-time, 14 assists and 70 points, eighth most all-time.

Helping Hands, Or Feet
While Krystal Sandza and Jennifer Borcich have done much of UCSB's scoring this year, combining for 42 of the team's 57 goals, they have needed somebody to get them the ball. Sophomore forward Erin Griswold leads the team with nine assists and senior midfielder Jen Codington is tied for second with eight. Both Griswold and Codington have tallied three goals as well and they have scored 15 and 14 points respectively.

Shooting Gallery
It is no wonder that UCSB has outscored its opposition this year by a margin of 57 to 23. When you take more shots, you score more goals. That's a no-brainer. The Gauchos have outshot their opposition this season by a 386 to 196 margin, an average of exactly 10.0 shots per game more. Even in Sunday's loss at Cal State Fullerton, UCSB outshot the Titans 21-16. In fact, the Gauchos have attempted 125 more shots in 19 matches this season than they did in 19 matches last season. They have also scored 57 goals, 23 more than they did in 2001.

Road Rules
UCSB's Big West title hopes will either come to fruition or be dashed on the road. The Gauchos enter their final, and most important road trip of the season with a 5-3-1 record in true road encounters and a 6-3-1 mark in all matches away from Santa Barbara.