Oct. 24, 2009
Goleta, Calif. - Waid Ibrahim and David Walker each scored in an 8-minute span of the first half Saturday night and those goals carried No. 6-ranked UC Santa Barbara to a 2-0 Big West Conference men's soccer victory over visiting Cal State Fullerton.
A crowd of 4,572 saw the Gauchos improve to 11-3-1 on the season and 5-2 in the Big West and the Titans drop to 7-7-2 and 3-3. It was UCSB's 11th consecutive win over Fullerton.
In the 25th minute, Walker sent a diagonal pass from the left side of the field to Ibrahim who split two defenders and fired a shot from about 18 yards out for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
Less than 10 minutes later, Machael David sent a pass from midfield to Walker, who was streaking down the right field line. Walker then beat Fullerton goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon one-on-one with a shot to the lower left hand corner of the Titan goal stretching the Gaucho lead to 2-0.
The Titans out-shot the Gauchos 8-6 in the second half.
"Disappointed with the result, not the performance," said CSF Head Coach Bob Ammann. "I thought we played well. We created a lot of chance but the quality of our finishing needs to be a little bit better. That's something we will emphasize.
"It's not like they created all that many more chances than we did, but they executed a little bit better. We still are in control of our own destiny and we look forward to Wednesday night's home match with UC Irvine."
Walker led all players with five shots during the game, including three on-goal. His goal marked the sixth of the season for the senior, putting him in the team lead. His assist was his third. Ibrahim tallied three shots during the win, all on-frame. His goal was his fourth of the year.
In the goal, Sam Hayden posted his ninth shutout of the season while tallying five saves.
Fullerton goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon also tallied a handful of saves for the Titans. Oscar Aguero and Mario Alvarez led Fullerton with three shots apiece.