DAVIS, Calif. — After a slow start, the Aggies fired it up to come from behind to upset No. 9 UC Santa Barbara, winning 11-10 in a Big West Conference showdown at Schaal Aquatics Center on Saturday.

The Aggies improve to 15-9, 1-1 in the Big West, winning their third consecutive game with the winning score in all three being in double-digits. UC Santa Barbara falls to 18-6, 1-1 in the Big West with the loss, as the Aggies snapped the Gauchos' five-game win streak, dating back to Feb. 24.

Much like the previous meeting this season, the Gauchos set the pace of the game early, scoring three unanswered in the first three minutes of the game, before Chloe Robinson converted a five meter penalty goal at 2:32 in the first period for the first Aggie score. UCSB continued to press, putting two more goals up before the end of the quarter for a game-best four-goal lead. 

"Obviously, not a great start," said head coach Jamey Wright, "but there's an old saying that goes, 'it's not how you start, it's how you finish.' Christy Warner's [Raycraft] father-in-law said just that before the game: it's not how you start, it's how you finish. It's funny because I wasn't thinking it would be applicable to today, but we showed our resiliency to hang in there and play."

Wright's words reflected throughout the game, as the Aggies were quick out of the gates in the second period. Emily Byrne and Noelle Wijnbelt each scored to bring the Gauchos within reach at 3-5 — the biggest gap between the teams for the remainder of the game. Robinson and Byrne notched their second goals of the game to close the first half at 5-6 in favor of UC Santa Barbara.

In a back-and-forth fashion, the Aggies and Gauchos traded goals, with McKenna Hauss seeing just her third of the season on a backdoor quick goal, and Byrne completing her hat trick, before the Gauchos converted a five meter of their own for a 9-7 lead with a minute left of the third quarter. Kathleen Schafle brought the Gauchos within one with her only goal of the game to end the third period. To start the fourth, Hauss notched her second goal to tie the score for the first time of the afternoon at 9-9 with 7:14 remaining in regulation. 

Both teams turned up the defense, recording steals left and right, until UCSB's Amanda Legaspi made the second five meter penalty for the Gauchos, putting the score in their favor, 10-9. The five meter sparked energy in the Ags, as they would hold UC Santa Barbara for the remainder of the game, led by Annie Kutt's skip goal from deep to tie the game at 10-10 with just under three minutes remaining. 

Schafle's last of four steals, and possibly the most crucial, came with a minute and a half remaining in the game, before she got the ball to center powerhouse Wijnbelt, who nailed the backhanded goal for the only — and the final — lead of the game for the Aggies. UCSB's Kate Pipkin took two shots on goal in the final possession, but freshman standout Sophia Noble was there to keep the cage on lockdown, as she finished with seven total saves in the half.

"I was a little nervous for Noelle [Wijnbelt]," continued Wright, "because she's been injured. But she came in, scored what was the winning goal, and sometimes things work out well. And to be honest, if we win, lose, or draw, in that game, you just want to play competitively in these conference games so you know that going into the next one, 'okay, we're right there.' We could've lost this game as easily as won it, but what I didn't want is to finish 10-5 or 9-4, because that's not so good. I was really happy with the resiliency of the group, and we just chipped away. I thought both goalies played great, and I thought Chloe [Robinson] really got us going offensively, and then Noelle, and then the whole group. We relied on our counter; our counter was awesome today, so that was really fun."

Following the record book, Robinson tallied two assists in today's game, putting her in a three-way tie for eighth all-time at UC Davis for single-season assists, with 35 so far on the year. Wijnbelt's two goals maintained her scoring streak, as she has scored in every game she's been in the pool for. Wijnbelt is now tied with Aggie great Tiffany Hodgens (twice), Jessica Dunn, and Carmen Eggert for second all-time with 20 straight games.

"It just goes from one tough game to another tough game in a week, so here we go again. We play Long Beach at Long Beach, in the evening, with all their people there, so it's gonna be a challenge. But you know, we're gonna face it and go from there."

The Aggies will hit the road, continuing Big West play at Long Beach State on Friday, April 5 at 7 PM, before concluding the weekend at UC Irvine on Sunday, April 7, at noon. 

GOALS: UC DAVIS: Emily Byrne 3, McKenna Hauss 2, Chloe Robinson 2, Noelle Wijnbelt 2, Annie Kutt 1, Kathleen Schafle 1. UCSB: Sarah Snyder 4, Caitlyn Snyder 2, Mollie Simmons 1, Kate Pipkin 1, Shannon Moran 1, Amanda Legaspi 1. 

GOALIE SAVES: UC DAVIS: Sophia Noble 7, Caitlin Golding 4. UCSB: Kenzi Snyder 6.

ABOUT UC DAVISProviding a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.

AGGIE EVOEstablished during the 2017-18 academic year, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO