By Ron Smith
August 22, 2023
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont's Sierra Martin scored in the sixth minute of play on Tuesday night as the Warriors took an early 1-0 lead over the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara in this year's edition of the annual crosstown exhibition game. However, the Gauchos scored three unanswered goals to claim a 3-1 victory.
 
Amarys Machado feed a ball to Shayna Stock on the left flank. From 35 feet out, Stock served the ball into the box on the right side. On the pass, Martin dashed from the top of the 18, got behind her defender and received the ball with her right foot about 12 yards out. After taking four stutter steps, Martin fired the ball with her left foot, scoring just inside the near post.
 
"We obviously got off to a fast start," said Westmont's head coach Jenny Jaggard. "We have moments when we are holding our shape and trusting each other when we can really connect. That was a great little switch, find-the-back-post finish. It was an exciting way to start."
 
The Warriors held the lead until the 29th minute when UCSB's Lauren Helwig converted a penalty shot after being fouled inside the box.
 
"After the game settled a little bit, we started lacking trust in the shape and collapsed in the back," analyzed Jaggard. "We didn't have the ability to build out anymore. UCSB does a good job of putting pressure on immediately. We need to learn to trust the new shape we are working on and to actually get there as the first step. When we started to do that, we started to see a little bit of momentum in the second half. We started swinging it and creating moments to go forward when we have enough courage to open up.
 
"When we are worried that we are going to lose the ball, we stay in a defensive shape, which isn't good for keeping the ball.
 
"Defensively, we need to learn not to foul when we have them contained."
 
The Gauchos scored twice in the second half. The first came on a goal by Manuri Alwis in the 68th minute and the second in the 86th minute on a goal by Leila Emmerson.
 
Despite the loss, Jaggard also found a number of positives.
 
"We have a lot of potential and I am excited about the depth," expressed the coach. "We played everybody and everybody has something to offer that is exciting. I am looking forward to seeing how we piece it together after we have a full two weeks under our belt. We are just seven days into training.
 
"I am proud of some of the defensive concepts. We are working on having a different shape when we attached verses when we defend, which is something a new concept that we did not do last year. There is a big learning curve right now.
 
"Shayna is doing a really good job. She is really fit. She is stepping into a leadership role as a captain. She has that quiet, calm voice up and down that flank. She did a great job of keeping the ball for us and helping solve problems that their shape was giving us.
 
"I am excited about Sydney Reese and her performance. When she times things right her process is really good. She is going to get positions where she finds the ball at her feet in good scoring spots.
 
"Amelia Villa's defending and attacking drew some good free kicks for us.
 
"Grace Duckens did everything. Today, she had to do the work of covering the edge of their diamond, which is a lot of defensive understanding. She sat in good angles and cut off those passes. She made it look simple when it is not."
 
The Warriors have one more opportunity for fine tuning when they host California Lutheran at 3:00 p.m. in another exhibition on Saturday.