(Photo: Jodi Vosika/ASU Lacrosse)
After a third-place finish in its own conference, the Gauchos made a shocking run through the first two rounds of the MCLA Tournament with electrifyingly close games. The losses add up, but that’s a trend throughout the SLC, leaving a door for UC Santa Barbara to go through if the pieces come together just right. This is part of an ongoing series during which we will focus on one of the MCLA’s top teams each day, counting down till Christmas to the true “cream of the crop.”
Last year
Record: 11-4
Postseason finish: MCLA Tournament Final Four
Quick season recap: The Gauchos started the year the same way they ended it: on fire. Through February the team was a cool 6-0 with wins over the WCLL’s top four teams. However, as soon as the calendar flipped into March, the team had a bit of a harder time keeping up with the hot start, going 5-4 down the stretch. The losses weren’t glaring, to tough opponents such as Grand Canyon, Westminster, BYU, and Chapman. However, over this stretch the only significant win was a narrow one-goal victory over Virginia Tech. The team was able to rebound from its struggles in the postseason, though, with one of the most epic tournament runs in recent memory. After dropping out of the SLC Tournament with a slim loss to No. 1 Arizona State, the 6-seed Gauchos ran into rematches against regular-season foes Cal Poly and Virginia Tech, both of which went multiple overtimes. The game against VT was the longest game in MCLA history, a six-overtime marathon that ended on a goal from Blake Samuel to propel UCSB into the national semifinals. That was as far as this team would go, though, falling to the eventual-champion Colorado Buffaloes in a close Final Four game.
Roster losses: Speedster senior attackman Johnny Morgan is the most notable missing piece from this offense coming into the 2015 season. After an outstanding senior season (42 goals, 8 assists) that pushed him over the 100-goal mark for his career at UCSB, Morgan leaves behind a hole that this offense will need to fill. After a stellar freshman year, attackman Casey Mix is unlikely to return to the program, according to head coach Mike Allan. He scored 26 goals and added 34 assists to lead the team in points as a first-year player, making his way onto the SLC All-Freshman team. Also departing is role player midfielder Aaron Bucka, whose 32 points weren’t necessarily reflective of his across-the-board abilities, which earned him a spot as an All-American. Defensively, the biggest missing piece is Conrad Carlson, who had arguably the hottest stretch of his career in last year’s postseason play. Against top-tier opponents he held down every one to single-digit goals until the national semifinal loss. The absence of two long-poles in defensemen Jeremy White and Blake Overholt should only be a factor in terms of depth, but long-stick midfielder Alex Mainthow will be missed after coming on strong in the clutch last year, snagging All-Tournament honors for his work in last season’s deep tournament run.
This year
Who to watch for: Blake Samuel, junior attackman
After a season highlighted by his game-winning goal in the longest game of the league’s history, Samuel will have chance to continue his goal-scoring excellence (62 career goals) in 2015. While yes, Mix and his strong balanced play (26 goals, 34 assists as a freshman in ’14) would have likely to be the chief coordinator for this offense, it’s Samuel that will need to embrace the leadership role and the late go-to on this offense with Mix gone. “Blake’s a guy who’s been an off-ball player,” Allan said of Samuels. “He’s got one of the best shooting forms on the team. He’s a leader and this year he’s a captain.” If that shooting form continues to pay off for the junior, he could be a big factor in giving scorers like midfielder Carl Tilbury (24 goals in 2014) more space to work with while generating some solid offensive numbers himself.
They’re dangerous if they continue to excel in close games. Incredibly, in games decided by two goals or fewer, UCSB was 8-4 last year. Just the fact that this team played in 12 games that were that close is enough to inspire sympathy for the Gauchos’ fans who were subjected to constant nail-biters, but that the team won so many of these games is the mark of a battle-tested team. In late February during a three-game stretch versus the WCLL’s top three teams (Cal Poly, Sonoma State, Cal), UCSB pulled off narrow finishes in all three to serve as a boost on their ascension through the MCLA’s ranks. It will be tough with the transition and having lost an experienced midfield as well as a seasoned goalie, but if this year’s group can pick up the torch and continue to pull off the wins when they matter, as we saw in last year’s MCLA Tournament, this could be another dynamic season for the Gauchos. It’s a new year, though, according to Allan. “A lot of that tournament success of last season was driven by the senior class that we had last season,” Allan said. “We have so many young guys that it doesn’t have us dwelling on last season.”
Achilles’ heel: Generating offense from top to bottom. Yes, Blake Samuel has the makings of a star in the SLC, but this offensive unit as a whole was not on par with other MCLA powerhouses in 2014. Yes, part of this was due to a tougher defensive schedule than most teams played. But consider that, of all the teams in the tournament field last season, only one (Colorado State – 9.0) had fewer goals scored per game on the season than the Gauchos (9.4). This is a trend that will need to turn around if the team wants to become a true contender and rise above last season’s finish. The loss of Bucka won’t help the Gauchos in this cause, but perhaps the younger midfielders that had been waiting in the wings will get a chance to steal the spotlight and try to generate some sparks for a UCSB team that could use the offensive depth.
Trey Lanthier is a lacrosse reporter and editor at WCSN, as well as a contributor for Inside Lacrosse. You can reach him at treylanthier@gmail.com or on Twitter, @TreyLanthier.
