‘Eaters collect crown

SANTA BARBARA — The UC Irvine men’s soccer team defended its Big West Conference Tournament title Saturday, upsetting No. 1-seeded host UC Santa Barbara, 4-1, to gain the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Mirroring last season’s inaugural tournament title game, the No. 3-seeded Anteaters seized a 4-0 lead on their way to avenging a pair of 1-0 losses to the Gauchos this season.

No. 26-ranked UCI will take a 15-6 record into its second NCAA Tournament appearance. The ’Eaters reached the round of 16 last season.

Seniors Carlos Aguilar and Irving Garcia, as well as juniors Spencer Thompson and Gray Bailey had goals for UCI, for which Aguilar, the tournament MVP, added an assist.

Senior Kevin Santora also had an assist and sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Fontein had six saves in 80 minutes for the winners.

UCI led, 2-0, at halftime, as Bailey broke the scoreless deadlock in the 10th minute.

No. 4-ranked UCSB falls to 15-4-2.

— From staff reports