Posted:  October 4, 2007 7:41 AM

 

Harder Stadium is raging again.

 

Feeding off the energy of a rabid student crowd, the UCSB men's soccer team exploded for three goals in a 13-minute span in the first half and routed UC Irvine 4-0 in a nationally televised Big West match on Wednesday night.

 

Chris Pontius had a hat trick and Alfonso Motagalvan scored the other goal in a dominating performance before 4,402 fans.

 

"It's unbelievable. It feels like you can run all night," said playmaking midfielder Ciaran O'Brien about wild and crazy student crowd that set off blue and yellow smoke bombs after the Gauchos scored their fourth goal. "The crowd is something you dream to play before. It's like a 12th man out there."

 

"There's no way to describe it," UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg said of the energy the crowd brings to his team. "It started in the first five minutes when you saw Tino flying in and Eric Avila closing space and Pontius getting after people. There's nothing like it in college soccer. You just play at a higher level."

 

Pontius scored two goals and Motagalvan the other in the first half as the No.12-ranked Gauchos (5-2-2, 2-0-0) showed the nation they have plenty of firepower to defend their Big West and NCAA national championships.

 

Wednesday's home match, broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel, was the Gauchos' first in front of a predominantly student crowd since last November's NCAA quarterfinal win over Northwestern. The students started classes last week.

 

UCSB continually pressured No. 25 UC Irvine's imposing back line with slick ball movement from O'Brien, Avila and Nu0x96ez, and the hard-nosed play of Pontius, who was moved up from the fullback position to the front line.

 

"He's the kind of guy who can play anywhere and that's the kind of guy you need on your team," said O'Brien of Pontius.

 

The Gauchos' first goal capped a beautiful sequence of one-touch soccer. It started with an Avila cross from the right wing to Nunez at the top middle of the penalty area. Nunez coolly settled the pass and tapped it to Pontius, who drilled a one-time shot past defenseless UC Irvine goalkeeper Greg Larson in the 26th minute.

 

UCSB kept the pressure on and went up 2-0 four minutes later on a blast from Motagalvan. The Gauchos had the Anteaters (5-2-2, 0-1-0) scrambling in the back with crossing balls from the wings. Motagalvan seized on their vulnerability by pouncing on a weak clearance and smashing his shot inside the far post from 19 yards.

 

The Gauchos continued their relentless attack against a reeling Irvine team and punished the Anteaters with a third goal in the 39th minute. The play started with an O'Brien corner kick to an unmarked Motgalvan inside the 6-yard box. Motagalvan headed the ball off the crossbar and Pontius cleaned up the rebound for his second goal.

 

O'Brien shredded UC Irvine's defense again, setting up Andrew Proctor for a one-on-one with Larson. The UC Irvine keeper won the confrontation with a diving save.

 

Larson had to make two more big saves early in the second half. He stopped Pontius from 10 yards out and denied O'Brien on a breakaway.

 

Pontius completed his hat trick in the 85th minute after some hard work by Brennan Tennelle.

 

"I give credit to my teammates," said Pontius. "Those were three opportunities that were easy to finish."

 

It was the second straight shutout for the Gauchos. They blanked UC Davis 4-0 last Saturday. That makes Vom Steeg a happy coach.

 

"What we're really working on as a team is to complete our games, and that means we should be getting shutouts," he said. "I was pleased with the fact we were able to get another shutout tonight."

 

Picture credit:  Dave King / News-Press

 

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