UC Irvine earned the biggest win in its program history when it beat UC Santa Barbara, 2-0, Wednesday night before a record crowd of 1,561 fans at Anteater Stadium and took over first place in the Big West.
Matt Murphy scored the game-winner in the 24th minute, and former U.S. U-20 Brad Evans put the game out of reach in the 77th minute. Both Murphy and Evans had sat out the first meeting with UCSB — a 2-0 Gaucho victory — because of red-card suspensions.
UCI improved to 13-3-3 overall and moved back into first place in the Big West with 19 points at 6-2-1. UCSB fell to 11-7-0 and 6-3-0 in conference action and is one point behind in the standings.
The Anteaters can clinch the title with a win at Cal State Northridge Saturday. Despite the loss, the Gauchos can still clinch the title with a win over UC Riverside and an Anteater loss or tie at Northridge.