Gauchos Defeat UCLA 1-0 in Overtime and Advance in NCAA Tournament on Nicolas Willumsen’s Game-Winning Goal
Willumsen Broke a Scoreless Tie Less than Three Minutes into Overtime
Overtime in the NCAA Tournament provided a big opportunity, and Nicolas Willumsen seized the moment.
The junior forward delivered the game-winning goal less than three minutes into overtime, boosting the Gauchos to a 1-0 victory over UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday night.
“What an exciting win for the program. We went from not thinking we would be in the tournament after a very disappointing loss to being able to rebound and play arguably our best game of the year against obviously a very quality opponent,” said UC Santa Barbara coach Tim Vom Steeg. “We’re excited. I’m thrilled for the players. It’s great that we got to experience that versus how we left it last week.”
The Gauchos came out strong, dominating possession and shots on goal in the first half. In the first 30 minutes of play, UC Santa Barbara outshot UCLA nine to one. Despite the Gauchos’ dominance, the teams were locked in a scoreless tie at halftime.
“We made a concerted effort from our last game to this one to make UCLA have to defend for long stretches. It’s very hard to take them off the ball, so when you get the ball off of them, the last thing you need to do is turn around and give it right back to them,” Vom Steeg said. “Credit to the players; we talked about the game plan, we talked about staying on the ball as much as you can, but overall, it comes off of good performances. Each of the players — and you can go through everybody that played tonight — they worked hard to stay on the ball, and that was a key part, I thought, for the game.”
The second half was much more even in terms of shots on goal and time of possession, but the Gauchos still outshot the Bruins five to three.
Ethan Senter nearly won the game in regulation for Santa Barbara in the final minutes, but his clean shot at goal went high.
After sitting out the first 90 minutes Kaden Standish entered the match for overtime and made his presence felt almost immediately, collecting the ball just outside the box and finding Willumsen, who took one touch before smashing a shot that went just above the grasp of the UCLA goalkeeper.
The Gauchos will play at Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, on Sunday at 5 p.m. in Palo Alto. The Cardinal are the No. 16 seed in the tournament field. This will be the first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between UC Santa Barbara and Stanford.