CSUB falls to UCSB in front of record-setting crowd

Joe Macias

September 25, 2015

CSUB freshman midfielder Sabrina Delgado moves the ball up the field against UC Riverside on Sept. 6. Photo by John Brown

Reporter

CSU Bakersfield women’s soccer team struggled in the second half as they lost 3-0 to UC Santa Barbara in the Roadrunners’ on Sept. 23.

According to gorunners.com, CSUB (2-6-1) broke its record attendance with 1,143, which shattered its previous record of 607 in Sept. 10, 2012.

CSUB was still in the game as they headed into halftime, but UCSB came out in the second half and scored all of its three goals in that period.

“We were hanging on in the first half,” said CSUB coach Gary Curneen. “Once they got that momentum they were hard to stop.”

There was a lot of technical mistakes said Curneen.

“[We] did some right things in the game we just couldn’t sustain them.”

The Roadrunners looked really good defensively in the first half as they went into halftime tied up at zero. Offensively, the Roadrunners played well at times but spent most of the first half on the defensive side of the ball, due to the Gauchos high offensive work rate and being able to possess the ball.

UCSB forward Mallory Hromatko was the player that kicked off that momentum and was able to break down the CSUB defense as she scored in the 51st minute of the game with a strike inside the penalty box.

“In the first half we possessed the ball really well,” said CSUB forward Aminah Settles.

According to Settles, it’s hard to hold up the ball against a team like that.

Not many chances were created for the Roadrunners offense as it only had two shots on target the entire game. A lot of given up possession of the ball in the second half proved to be the difference between the two teams. The Gauchos took advantage of the errors CSUB made and were able to get three goals out of it.

“(We) brought intensity (coming into the game),” said CSUB keeper Beth Ritter who was responsible for giving up all three goals in the game. “(We) need to work on set pieces.”

Two of the three goals by the Gauchos were scored from set pieces and given up from the Roadrnners poor defending. A lack of communication from the Roadrunners back line of defense also was a factor in their bad performance. The Roadrunners will look to bounce back as they have host their WAC season opener against Grand Canyon University on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.