Hopson's First Career Goal Secures 1-1 Draw At Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The first goal of sophomore midfielder Jeffrey Hopson's college career came in Friday's 65th minutes and delivered the Wildcats a hard-fought 1-1 draw Friday night on the road against perennial NCAA Tournament team UC-Santa Barbara.

The Wildcats headed west with a chip on their shoulder and memories of a 2013 season-opening loss to the Gauchos in Evanston last August. The home side struck first in the 29th minute when a failed cross attempt fell at the feet of freshman Nick DuPuy at the top of the box, who beat Tyler Miller for the first goal of his career.

In the 64th minute freshman forward Elo Ozumba sent a probing cross towards the backside of the six-yard box. A bouncing ball was set back by Mike Roberge to Hopson who was able to run onto it and fire a shot inside the left post from 16 yards out to tie the game at one. The marker was the first of Hopson's college career.

The two sides battled through the remainder of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, a period marked by four yellow cards between the two teams. UC-Santa Barbara piled up four yellow cards overall in the match.

Now 2-0-1 on the season, head coach Tim Lenahan's Wildcats will remain on California's Central Coast to take on the Cal-State Fullerton Titans on Sunday in a neutral site game in Santa Barbara. Goalkeeper Tyler Miller enters the game one shutout away from a new program record.