SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Heading into Friday night’s contest at UC Santa Barbara, Gonzaga University’s men’s soccer team hadn’t won a true road match since 2011 and hadn’t defeated a ranked opponent since 2007.

            Take both of those off the bucket list of this group of Bulldogs (1-1-0) as they stunned the nationally-ranked Gauchos 2-0 behind goals by Clark Phillips and Ben Striar.

            The last time Gonzaga defeated a ranked opponent was Sept. 7, 2007, when the Bulldogs downed 15^th-ranked University of Washington 2-1 in Spokane, and the last time the Zags picked up a true road win was Sept. 14, 2011, when they defeated Seattle University 1-0 in overtime. Gonzaga was 3-1-1 in neutral-field matches since the win at Seattle.

            UCSB (2-1-0) was ranked in every poll - 15^th by Soccer Times, 16^th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), 18^th by Soccer America and 24^th by TopDrawerSoccer.com. The NSCAA Far West rankings had UCSB ranked fourth.

            The Bulldogs, who almost scored early when Nick Hamer tested UCSB keeper Austin Mansker just 1:15 into the match, took the lead at 28:24 when Conner Bevans heel-kicked a throw-in from Nikolai Littleton to Phillips at the far post and beat Mansker from close range for his 10^th career goal.

            The Zags got the insurance goal from Striar, a Seattle University transfer, at 81:37 when he took a pass from Nick Hamer and buried the ball from 16 yards to the far side past Mansker.

            “We’re undefeated on that field,” an obviously delighted head coach Einar Thorarinsson said. “We pressed them all over the field for 90 minutes and didn’t give them any time on the ball. We wanted them to make mistakes. It was a total team effort.”

            Gonzaga is 4-0-1 at USCB and leads the overall series 4-1-1. This was the first meeting since Gonzaga took a 1-0 road victory in 2007.

            The Bulldogs, meanwhile, played solid defense in the middle third of the field and denied the Gauchos form getting many serious scoring chances. The best chance for UCSB came a minute prior to Striar’s goal when Achille Campion out-jumped Gonzaga keeper Ryan Caballero from about 12 yards out and sent a header skimming past the left post.

            “Everybody contributed to this win. Clark had a great game and Lars (Ludwigs) probably had his best game ever. Ryan played well and Josh (Phillips) did a good job on their center forwards. I can’t say enough about everybody’s effort.

            Caballero, who had both of his saves come in the second half, recorded his sixth career shutout to move into a tie for fourth on the all-time Gonzaga list. With nine saves this season he has 250 in his career to rank second behind current assistant coach Vito Higgins who heads the list with 305.

            The Bulldogs were coming off a frustrating 1-0 season and home opener loss to 21^st ranked University of Washington last Friday. But Thorarinsson said the squad did a good job of putting that match behind them.

            “We talked after the match as a team and said it was disappointing to lose that game, but not to dwell on it and move forward. They did not dwell on that and there was an immediate push to put that one behind us and have a look-ahead type of week,” Thorarinsson said.

            The Bulldogs will remain on the road to face Cal Poly Sunday at 1 p.m. The Mustangs (2-1-0) blanked UCLA 3-0 on the road Thursday.

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