RIVERSIDE, Calif.—It may not have been the outcome that it wanted, but the UC Riverside Women's Soccer team learned a valuable lesson Sunday evening. Take no one in the Big West lightly.

In a back and forth, evenly matched game against UCSB, the Gauchos scored in the 84th minute on a 25-yard shot from the left side by Shaelan Murison to hand the Highlanders their first loss of the season. The team is now 10-1-2 on the season and 1-1-1 in conference.

"The parity in our league is so different," head coach Nat Gonzalez said. "Everyone knows each other, not only on film, but year after year knowing the personalities, the coaches, the tendencies. It is a different animal."

The Highlanders had their chances, especially in the first half. UCR outshot the Gauchos 6-2. However, in the second half, UCSB put the pressure on goal keeper Annie Bailey. UCSB had eight shots, four of which were on goal.  

It closed out a tough weekend for the team, who tied 0-0 in double overtime with Cal Poly on Friday.

One thing Gonzalez is going to stress to his team this week in practice is to focus on the basics.

"It is a reset button," Gonzalez said. "We have to figure out what we did well the 12 games prior to this. We have to figure out again what that felt like, why it was successful and everyone just has to recommit."

UCR's next match will be on Thursday vs. UC Irvine (7-5-1, 3-0-0) at UCR Soccer Stadium.

"The good news is that we have five games left in conference," Gonzalez said. "What I'm curious to see and excited to see is what our response will be. It's going to be important."