UCSB comes up short

By BARRY PUNZAL

 UCSB came up short on two ends Wednesday night at Harder Stadium. The Gauchos didn’t score a victory and they fell shy of breaking a NCAA record.

 UCSB and Cal Poly played to a scoreless draw after battling through the regulation 90 minutes and two 10-minute overtime periods before a crowd of 9,749. The attendance count fell short of the NCAA regular-season single-game mark of 11,075 set by Cal Poly a couple of weeks ago against the Gauchos.

 More important for UCSB, though, was the result prevented the Gauchos from wrapping up a share of the conference title. They’ll now travel to UC Davis on Saturday for a chance to win their third straight crown.

 Cal Poly (10-4-5, 5-2-3 Big West), which could have wrapped up its first conference title with a win on Wednesday, remains in first place with 18 points and is done with Big West regular season play. UCSB (10-5-2, 5-2-2) stands in second place with 17 points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie) while UC Irvine is in third with 16 points and UC Davis fourth and Cal State Northridge tied for fourth with 15 points. The top four teams qualify for the conference tournament, with the first-and second-place teams hosting first-round matches.

 It was a high-energy, physical match on Wednesday, but the only one who could put a ball in the net was one of the two male streakers who bolted onto the Harder Stadium field in the second half. One of the men booted the ball into the Cal Poly net just as the goalkeeper was setting up to take a goal kick.

 The streakers sprinted across the field as the crowd roared. One managed to make it all the way, but the other slipped and was pounced on by stadium security officials,

 The Gauchos had some good scoring chances slip away in the first half, thanks to the outstanding play of Cal Poly goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco.

 “He made two ridiculous saves in the first half,” said UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg.

 Branagan-Franco made a brilliant save on a header by Pontius at the back post in the ninth minute, reaching high with his left hand to knock the ball away.

 “You give him that 99 times and he’ll finish it,” said Vom Steeg of the shot.

 “That’s a miraculous save,” said Pontius, who felt he could have done a better job on the shot. “That’s just terrible by me. I should have put that one away.”

 “That’s Eric Franco,” Cal Poly coach Paul Holocher raved about the big plays by his senior goalkeeper. “He’s a special goalkeeper. When you play such a quality team like UC Santa Barbara, your keeper’s going to have to come up big with one or two big saves,”

 The Gauchos took a big hit in the first half when Pontius suffered a cut on his forehead and had to leave the game. He would later return after getting five stitches and having his head taped like a headband.

 The Gauchos came close to scoring in the 39th minute on a shot by Danny Barrera. On this one, Branagan-Franco dived to his right and pared the ball away with his right hand.

 Branagan-Franco was in the right spot on another Pontius header in the 51st minute.

 Cal Poly’s best scoring chance came in the 76th minute when one of the assistant referee’s called a hand-ball violation against the Gauchos in the box, giving Cal Poly a penalty kick.

 Fortunately for UCSB, the Mustangs’ Anton Peterlin hit his shot over the crossbar.

  The Gauchos took another hit in the 79th minute when midfielder Luis Silva was given a red card, leaving them a man down for the rest of the game.

 Cal Poly took control of the action, but the Gauchos managed to hold on.

  The Mustangs’ David Zamora  had a great scoring chance a few seconds into the first overtime period, but UCSB’s David Walker hustled behind goalkeeper Kristopher Minton and kicked the ball off the goal-line.

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