Gauchos Wrap-Up Regular Season this Weekend

April 13, 2011

• The Schedule
Saturday, April 16, 2011 
No. 16 UC Santa Barbara (15-10, 2-1) at No. 19 Long Beach State (11-14, 0-2), 12 p.m.

Sunday, April 17, 2011 
No. 16 UC Santa Barbara at No. 10 UC Irvine (16-8, 2-0), 12 p.m.

• This Week In Water Polo
No. 16 UCSB will conclude its regular season schedule on the road this weekend as it heads to Long Beach State on Saturday and UC Irvine on Sunday for Big West Conference contests. Both games will start at noon.

• Last Time Out
After getting out to a 2-0 start in conference play two weeks ago, the Gauchos stumbled against Cal State Northridge last Saturday. The Matadors thwarted a late comeback by UCSB to take an 8-7 win. The Gauchos followed the game with CSUN with a non-conference pairing against Cal Baptist. The game was tied up at 9-9 with 29 seconds to go when head coach Wolf Wigo was issued a red card and the officials subsequently called the game a 5-0 forfeit. The game will count as a loss on the Gauchos' record and the goals and saves tallied in the game will not count to the players' season totals.

• The Opposition
UCSB has already faced UC Irvine and Long Beach State this season in non-conference games. The Gauchos suffered a tough 9-5 loss to the Anteaters on Jan. 30 and dropped a 5-2 game to the 49ers on Feb. 12. Long Beach has yet to win a Big West game and is 0-2 in league while Irvine is 2-0.

• UCSB Has Four Wins Vacated
UCSB must vacate four of its victories from earlier this season due to the use of an ineligible player. The wins over Cal State Northridge (Feb. 26), St. Francis (Mar. 4), La Verne (Mar. 4) and Occidental (Mar. 12) have been removed. As a result, the Gauchos' overall record falls from 19-10 to 15-10 on the year. UCSB maintains its 2-1 league mark and its seeding for the conference tournament will be unaffected.

• On A Roll
Seniors Claire Buchanan and Kathryn Nelson are each amidst significant scoring streaks. Buchanan has scored in the last eight games, marking her longest streak of the season. She has posted 17 goals across those contests. Nelson, meanwhile, has scored 14 goals across seven games. It's her second longest streak this season; she opened the year with an eight game streak.

• Buchanan's Bullet Point
Senior Claire Buchanan is second on the team with her 36 goals and leads the team with six goals scored in Big West contests. The Carmichael, Calif. native leads the team with a whopping 75 earned ejections and has also posted 13 steals on the year.

• Nelson Notebook
Senior Kathryn Nelson continues to lead the Gauchos in goals with 49 this season, which matches her total goals from her previous three seasons with UCSB. Nelson has scored in all but four contests this year, is amidst a seven-game scoring streak and has had 16 multiple goal games. Additionally, she is first on the team in steals (36) and field blocks (10).

• Last Line of Defense
Sophomore goalkeeper Ruth Milne has started all 28 contests in goal for the Gauchos this season. Milne is currently averaging 11.47 saves per game, which ranks first in the conference, and 7.2 goals against. She has had double-digit saves on 17 occasions, including a season-best 16 against Cal on Feb. 26. Milne, who has totaled 265 saves so far, is just 10 away from tying her own school record for single season saves and 55 away from matching the UCSB career record set by Yvonne Conard (2000-02) at 595 saves.

• Record Watch
Senior Christie Clark's 29 goals this season have brought her career count to 145, which ranks fourth on the UCSB career-scoring list. She needs seven more goals to match No. 3 Jennifer D'Anna's career output. Kathryn Nelson and Claire Buchanan - who have each scored 98 goals - are tied for 12th.

• UCSB To Host 2011 Big West Championship
The 2011 Big West Tournament will be hosted by UCSB at Campus Pool the weekend of April 29 through May 1. This season marks the first that the conference will have an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, which will be on the line along with the conference crown.