SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's soccer team fought to a 1-1 draw with the Menlo College Oaks on Thursday evening with UCSC striking first before the Oaks fired back in the second half. The Oaks narrowly outshot the Banana Slugs 16-15, but UC Santa Cruz had the better attempts. Putting 11 shots on frame to Menlo's six.
Ainsley Gove played strong in goal for the full 90, making 10 saves on the evening. The Banana Slugs will get the weekend off after hosting two games this week, but they'll return to action on October 25 when they host the La Verne Leopards at 11:00 a.m.
How It Happened
The Oaks took the first shot of the day with a low shot on goal, but
Ainsley Gove was there to scoop it up and keep Menlo off the board in the 6th minute. UC Santa Cruz responded with three shots as
Camille Anneet sent two off the mark while
Sydney Boyd put on frame, forcing Menlo to make their first save of the night. After a Menlo shot on goal at the 15:01 mark forced another Gove save, UCSC countered with
Camille Anneet making a quick surge through the midfield before passing it to
Sydney Boyd who drilled a shot from 25 yards out, sliding it just under the crossbar to give the Banana Slugs the 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. The Banana Slugs continued to control play for the remainder of the half, limiting Menlo to just one more shot, taken in the 40th minute, but Gove was there to make another save, sending UCSC into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead.
The Oaks came out of the half rejuvenated as they set out for the equalizer, quickly fending off three shots from UC Santa Cruz before putting the Banana Slugs' defense to the test as they rang off seven shots in the span of nearly eight minutes with
Ainsley Gove making six saves while the seventh shot was sent wide. After the flurry of offensive moments from the Oaks, they managed to connect with the back of the net in the 70th minute after a pass snuck through the back line and found the foot of a Menlo player who sent it into the back right side of the net to level things at 1-1. The intensity picked up by both teams for the final 20 minutes, resulting in a collection of fouls but both teams only managed to take one more shot each in the contest with each attempt getting saved, ending the contest in a 1-1 tie.
