Fans of the No. 13 UCSB men’s soccer team (4-3-0), with tortillas in hand, geared up to rain their furious food down upon the field as their team led the No. 7 UCLA Bruins (4-1-1) 1-0 late in the second half.
However, it was not to be as redshirt junior midfielder Brian Iloski converted a free kick off the crossbar with 89:57 on the clock. Thus the Gaucho fans would have to holster their snacks for the time being.
And within the span of six minutes, the Bruins went from losing, to tying and then to winning as sophomore midfielder Jackson Yueill hit the winning goal in overtime to give UCLA the come-from-behind victory.
Junior forward Abu Danladi missed the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury but has scored three goals since.
Danladi played tonight and took a shot, but was unable to score. He did, however, do the next best thing by delivering an assist to Yueill for the winning goal.
The junior played with a bit of a homecoming crowd as Danladi spent four years at the Dunn School in the nearby town of Los Olivos.
Juan Cervantes, the Bruins’ redshirt senior goalkeeper, has also been playing well with two shutouts on the season. Tonight, however, Cervantes seemed a bit more human.
UCSB took nine shots, only two of which were on goal. Cervantes was able to save one but the other squeezed by to give the Gauchos the lead less than 14 minutes into the game.
The Bruins continued their historically hot streak against the Gauchos, as they are now 35-5-3 all time in their head-to-head series.
As UCLA inches higher and higher in the rankings, it will take on the other half of the Blue-Green rivalry, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, on Friday.