Gaucho Alums Back in Harder Stadium

UCSB sits on the beach. The weather around campus usually rests between a perfect 65 to 75 degrees. With Isla Vista only a few feet away from campus, students are guaranteed an eventful night. And with a packaged deal for UCSB students, UCSB alumni have no excuse to not return for alumni weekend.

This past Saturday, April 25, the UCSB Women’s Soccer team hosted its annual alumni game. Past players divided themselves into two teams – blue and white – and challenged each other in the glory they once felt at Harder Stadium.

The game opened with the Gaucho Blue in possession of the ball. Then, after the seventh minute, a pass from the right outside set up a Blue forward to net the first goal of the game. Throughout the duration of the first half, each team went back and forth with possession of the ball. In the final three minutes of the half, the Gaucho White saw their first opportunity to score from a shot at the top of the 16-yard box, but the Blue rushed in to block the kick and end the first half.

Down one in the second half, the White team acquired a second shot well outside the 16-yard box into the left corner to land their first goal of the game. Within the next two minutes, a determined Blue team hoped to finish the game strong as they scored their second goal of the afternoon.

The contest saw the final at goal attempt when a forward on the White team shot over a Blue goalie to hit the crossbar and bounce back into the eight-yard box, only to be picked up by the Blue defense and hit back up the field to end the game 2-1 in favor of the Gaucho Blue.

“Even though I haven’t played in a while, I still know which moves or shots someone is going to take,” said Gaucho alumna Linda Meyer. “The relationships on the field never go away.”

Although past women’s soccer players might have relocated somewhere new since their time at UCSB, Meyers couldn’t have phrased it better: Santa Barbara soccer will never go away for these alumnae.