Sept. 8, 2000
Bowling Green, Ky. -
The Western Kentucky men's soccer team fell to UC-Santa Barbara 1-0 in the first ever match at the new WKU Soccer Complex on Friday night before a crowd of 290. The two teams fought hard to the end, with UCSB netting the game-winning goal late in the first half.
Western dominated the match with its attacking style of play, and just missed on several shots. Junior forward Tawanda Chitapa and senior captain Steven Brown (Bowling Green, Ky.) both had goals just graze the posts and sail past the nets.
The Gauchos lone goal of the match came in the 20th minute of the leg of Thiago Martins on a runner about 10 yards from the goal. Martins punched the ball past redshirt freshman goalkeeper Daryl Sattler (Cordova, Tenn.) who recorded five saves in the match.
Western led in shots by a final tally of 24-15, and had one more shot on goal than UCSB.
"We really played well tonight," head coach David Holmes said. "Soccer is a game of inches and this is the second match of the season we have lost because of near misses. Mentally our team will be fine, physically we are a little banged up right now."
The Hilltoppers lost senior midfielder Donovan Schultz (Johannesburg, South Africa) late in the first half to a twisted ankle. Schultz will be evaluated on Saturday and he is listed as doubtful for the match on Sunday against Valparaiso.
WKU will host Valparaiso on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CDT) at the WKU Soccer Complex on Creason Street. Valparaiso was idle on Friday night and will enter the match with a 1-1 record. Their lone loss was to UC-Santa Barbara in the season opener 4-0.
