IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer were stunned Thursday night in their Big West Tournament Semifinal match in Anteater Stadium as UC Santa Barbara snagged the 1-0 victory on a goal 20 seconds in.

Katherine Sheehy cut across the attacking third in the match's infancy dishing to Hannah Wendelken who scalded a shot from 25 yards out into the upper 90 to put the Gauchos (13-6-1, 5-2-1) up, 1-0, in the opening minute.

The 'Eaters (8-7-4, 4-1-3) responded with their share of attacking chance in the first half, but the score remained 1-0 UCSB with each side even up with three shots each.

The Gaucho defense held firm through the second half despite sparkling chances from UC Irvine. McKenzie Madison had the best chance in the 62nd minute gathering a clearance and finding some space at the top of the box before smashing a curler into the upper right corner that needed a diving save from UCSB keeper Hanna DeWeese to keep the 1-0 UCSB lead.

The Anteaters had another chance in the waning seconds of the match drawing a foul at the top of the box with 26 seconds left. Lili Andino stepped up, but her free kick went into the wall and was cleared sealing UCI's fate in a 1-0 defeat.

Maddie Newsom finished with three saves to up her career total to 216 finishing the season with 82. DeWeese in net for UCSB stopped two shots as the 'Eaters put up just six shots to the Gauchos' 11.

Senior defensive back Jonnae Joseph knew the squad could right the ship after the early goal. "This had to be the calmest we've been after being scored on. Many times like this, we've been able to move on to the next minute. If we had gotten down on ourselves, we would have just [given] the game away."

"These games are different," noted a poised senior in Shelby Lee, "every goal matters in this environment. It doesn't matter if they score early, it was going to hurt no matter what. We couldn't get that goal back, but we were fighting for it the whole time."

"This has been an outstanding senior group," applauded head coach Scott Juniper. "and they've grown so much the last four years. They've been through a lot and they've won some massive games here. Definitely disappointed that we couldn't get a win [tonight], but they have so much to be proud of."

"Hopefully we've left our positivity and legacy with the team," Joseph said of her team who finished the regular season with a ninth winning campaign in coach Juniper's 12 years at 8-7-4.

UC Santa Barbara advances to the tournament final Sunday, November 4, at 1:00 p.m. to face top-seeded Long Beach State for the Big West title.

NOTES: The 'Eaters finish their third straight season with a Big West Tournament loss, second in the semifinals, and have now been held winless in its last seven Big West Tournament matches (0-5-2)...UCSB's win snapped an eight-match winless streak in Anteater Stadium...UCI's home unbeaten streak of seven (6-0-1) and winning streak of six matches ended Thursday night dropping its first home match since August 23 vs. Arizona