Suffering their first home loss of the season, the Sac State women?s soccer team lost 3-2 to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon.

Sac State (6-3-2) was unable to hold onto a 2-1 lead with less than 19 minutes left in the game, giving up two goals within a two-minute span and allowing the game to slip through their grasp.

UC Santa Barbara (5-5-1) on the other hand, was able to capitalize late in the game, scoring two goals minutes after the Hornets took the lead, gaining their first road victory of the season.

It was a back and forth game all afternoon as both teams exchanged goals, until late in the game when the Gauchos were able to score with 15 minutes to go, on a goal by Alex Richey.

“They (UCSB) came out with a lot of energy,” coach Sandra Asimos said. “The last 15 minutes of the game, they beat us to the ball.”

Sac State was able to take a 2-1 lead when Marisa Mercado scored about 70 minutes into the game, but the lead did not last for long for the Hornets.

Four minutes later, Santa Barbara tied the game at 2-2 when Inez Oriol scored a goal. Forward Lisa Wrightsman felt that when Santa Barbara tied the game, the momentum changed for the Hornets.

“When they tied it up, it let us down,” Wrightsman said.

Less than a minute later, Santa Barbara scored the game-winning goal, and held on for the win.

Wrightsman felt it was a tough loss for the Hornets.

“We expected the other team to be good, but we let down a few times,” Wrightsman said. “I myself did not did not have my best game.”

In the first half, Santa Barbara started the scoring first, when Jen Codington put the Gauchos on the board, with a goal near the end of the first half. Sac State came back 19 seconds later when Lisa Casey booted the ball just shy of midfield to score the first goal for the Hornets.

Asimos felt that the team played well, but that they were not prepared.

The Hornets now have five games remaining in the season, all being conference games. These games will determine whether or not the team will make the Big Sky Conference Playoffs.

“We will take one game at a time and win,” Asimos said. “The team goal is to win 10 games this season.”

Wrightsman reiterated the same point as Asimos. “We understand the importance of our remaining games,” Wrightsman said. “Hopefully we can look at this loss and come out and win.”