Senior Adelaide Gaffney scored the first two goals of her career in the first 14 minutes and Keri Sanchez notched her first victory as head coach at Colorado College with a 2-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the 2022 season opener Friday night in Santa Barbara.
 
Gaffney collected her first goal in the sixth minute when she took a thru ball from freshman Haley Williams in the left side of the box and Gaffney slid the ball under Gauchos goalkeeper Taylor Little.
 
Gaffney doubled the lead when she rose above everyone else and headed a corner kick from sophomore Kaelin Woodruff that bounced past Little. Woodruff, who tallied a goal in each of CC's two exhibition matches, recorded the first assist of her career.
 
"We got two great finishes by Gaffney tonight," Sanchez said. "She showed great composure on the first goal and just a wonderful technical finish with her head for the second goal."
 
UCSB trimmed the lead back to one in the 17^th minute. Meg Burling took a crossing pass from Emma Corcoran and her shot hit off the left post and into the net past Tiger keeper Ally Wakeman.
 
The Tiger defense clamped down after Burling's goal as CC allowed just one shot on goal in the final 73 minutes. Wakeman made that save with about 11 minutes to play, one of her two saves as she posted the first victory since the 2020-21 season.
 
"This was a gritty performance overall for us tonight," Sanchez added. "We are proud of the way the team fought together to hold on to the lead."
 
UCSB held an 8-7 advantage in total shots, but the Tigers led 4-3 in shots on goal. Jordan Darrow and Brett Tsamasfyros each had a shot on net outside of Gaffney's two. CC had three corner kicks, compared to two for the home team.
 
Colorado College wraps up its season-opening road trip on Monday, Aug. 22, at Utah Valley University, beginning at 7 p.m. (MT).