DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis senior
Andy Velasquez netted his third goal of the season just over four minutes into the match on Saturday afternoon, but the Aggies could not hold back an onslaught of goals from UC Santa Barbara, falling to the Gauchos by the score of 4-1 in a battle of Big West Conference preseason favorites at Aggie Soccer Field.
The loss snapped UC Davis' five-match winning streak, falling to 5-6 overall on the year and 1-1 in league play. UCSB improved to 6-3-2 overall and 2-0 with the win.
Velasquez's score at the 4:07 mark came off a nifty sequence of passes by
Max Glasser and
Grant Fidler for the 1-0 lead. Glasser started things off thanks to a pass at midfield from
Connor Tipton, making a run down the right side and feeding Fidler, who got behind a Gaucho defender.
Fidler made a run toward the endline before lofting a ball to the middle of the 18, finding the head of Velasquez, who buried to the middle top of the frame.
It is the third time this season that UC Davis has scored in the first five minutes of a match this season, joining
Grant Fidler's goal at the 3:55 mark of the match at No. 9 Washington and
Maximilian Arfsten's score at the 3:56 mark against San Francisco.
From there on out, it was all UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos' Salvador Aguilar timed his run perfectly to poke home the equalizer in the 43rd minute off a pass from teammate Nemo Philipp, and UCSB took the lead for good in the 72nd minute on a goal by Henry Davies at the back post for the 2-1 advantage.
The Gauchos were awarded three penalty kicks on the day, the first turned away by goalkeeper
Derrek Chan in the 42nd minute, denying Nemo to the right side to preserve the Aggies' 1-0 lead at that point. However, UC Santa Barbara was able to convert on the next two as Finn Ballard McBride and Ameyawu Muntari converted in the 75th and 86th minutes, respectively, for the final score.
Fidler led UC Davis with three of the team's 13 shots on the day, while the assist was his fourth of the year, tying him with Glasser for the team lead.
The Aggies return to Aggie Soccer Field on Wednesday (Oct. 6) for a 3 p.m. kick-off against UC Riverside.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.
Ranked annually in the nation's top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis and its innovative Aggie EVO System helps student-athletes develop passions, connect with a comprehensive network of alums and industry leaders, gain real-world experience and thrive as a young professional following a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school.
