Greer and the Gauchos head to the Big West Championship Final
MANOA, Hawai'i. -After seeing their two-goal lead erased, the UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team was awarded a penalty kick in the final minute of play. 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year, Devin Greer, scored the game-winner completely fooling the Davis keeper on the kick. The Gauchos will now play in the 2024 Big West Championship Final on Sunday, Nov. 10 after the 3-2 victory.
FROM HEAD COACH PAUL STUMPF
"I was pleased with the first 75 minutes and with our possession we were able to control the game," explained Stumpf. "We scored two great goals and then the chaos kind of got to us, but we did gather ourselves. In the end we were able to possess the ball deep in their defensive third for a long time and got a penalty kick very late in the game."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams came out with an aggressive offensive plan. It was the Gauchos that saw the first opportunity to score. In the fourth minute after a thoughtful attack up the field, the Gauchos controlled the ball inside the box. Devin Greer took a shot that was blocked, following that O'Callaghan Liu collected the ball and took a shot that was saved by the Davis keeper.
About 13 minutes later UC Davis saw a prime opportunity to score. Maddie Buckley was up to the challenge making a diving save to her left and keeping the game scoreless. After a few minutes of the match being played in the midfield, the Gauchos had another great scoring opportunity.
A ball played in by Isabella Ong was fumbled by the keeper. Caitlyn Simons was quick to possess it and flick it to Ava Dermott who took a shot. Unfortunately the shot was saved by a lone Aggie defender on the goal line.
As the first half was winding down, UC Davis had another opportunity to score but Buckley made another save to keep the game level after the first 45 minutes.
UC Santa Barbara wasted no time in the second half. In the 48th minute Haley Phillips and Devin Greer played a two-woman combination at the top of the box. Greer passed the ball to Phillips to the left side of the box and she took a perfect shot across her body and found the back of the net to put the Blue and Gold up 1-0.
Following the first goal of the game, the Gauchos extended their lead 10 minutes later. Greer found Liu who took a shot from 20 yards out beating the keeper to the top right of the goal.
The Aggies got a goal back in the 74th minute after their goalkeeper sent a ball down the field finding a UC Davis attacker. The forward made one move and beat Buckley to cut the lead in half. The Aggies carried that momentum and were able to net an equalizer two and a half minutes later.
Down the stretch UC Santa Barbara found some momentum and scoring opportunities, but were unable to capitalize. Shots by Gia Cimring, Zoe Franks and Caitlyn Simons did not find the back of the net. The teams would finish the 90 minutes knotted at two and head to overtime.
Both overtime periods were filled with scoring chances on both sides, but it was UC Santa Barbara that was able to capitalize. A tackle in the box by a Davis defender was initially not called a foul and after a few moment the referee went to VAR to review the play. Following a lengthy review the Gauchos were awarded a PK. The 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year, Devin Greer stepped up and buried the penalty kick to clinch a spot in The Big West Championship match for the first time since 2018.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will await the winner of No. 1 Hawai'i and No. 5 Cal State Bakersfield. The Championship Match is set for Sunday, Nov. 10 with a 1 p.m. pacific time kickoff. The match will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats also available.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
