Brack and Espardinez Lead the Charge in 2-1 Win

Saturday, September 26

Rocklin, CA

12:00 PM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

4-3-0, 0-0-0

Jessup University

0-5-2, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	1	1	2
Jessup	0	1	1

9/26/2026 2:36:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

ROCKLIN, Calif – The UC Santa Cruz women's soccer team secured a 2-1 victory over the Jessup University Warriors to add another away win to their season, now sitting with a 4-3 record on the year. Emilie Brack scored the first goal of the match, giving her the first goal of her collegiate career for the Banana Slugs in her senior season. The second score of the match came in the second half for UCSC, when a rainbow goal in the sailed over the goalie and into the net from Amaya Espardinez in her the second goal of her season. Goalkeeper Ainsley Gove recorded another win in the net alongside her two saves in the second half. The UCSC women's soccer team will be back on the road in their next matchup to face University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, October 2nd.

How It Happened:
UC Santa Cruz was challenged immediately to open today's matchup with Jessup taking their first shot less than two minutes after the opening whistle. After the initial shot, both teams started to settle in, and the Banana Slugs didn't take their first shot until the 15th minute by Amelia Fung. UCSC kept the pressure on the Warriors and secured their first goal in the 17th minute when Brack found the back of the net for the Banana Slugs on an assist from Erin Freeman to give UCSC the opening lead. About a minute later, Espardinez fired a shot on goal, but it was saved by the Warriors. Both teams played in the midfield for over 15 minutes of action until Kirsten Li began a pair of shot attempts by both teams, but no kicks found their way to a goal. At the end of the first 45, UCSC led Jessup 4-3 in shots.

The second half opened with an immediate challenge, this time by the Banana Slugs as Jade Jones swung a shot on goal just over two minutes into the back half of the game. The middle minutes of the half saw many fouls by both teams, including a yellow card for the Warriors. Gove brought in her first of two saves of afternoon in the 64th minute, allowing UCSC to maintain a comfortable lead in the match. The fouls continued, and a foul in the 76th minute gave UC Santa Cruz a free kick in scoring territory. From roughly 30 yards out, Espardinez floated a high ball up over the defenders and the goalie to give the Banana Slugs a 2-0 lead with the final minutes in play. Jessup, however, immediately responded with a sense of urgency, and scored their first goal of the match less than three minutes after UC Santa Cruz's latest score. The Warriors' sense of urgency challenged UC Santa Cruz up until the last second of the match, but was not enough to steal away a win from the Banana Slugs.