SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- After 68 minutes of scoreless soccer, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos tallied the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute before holding on for a 1-0 win over the Portland Pilots in a non-conference men's soccer game played on Saturday night at Harder Field.
 
Ignacio Tellechea claims the game-winner, and it came on a cross sent in from left of the 18 by Noah Billingsely. It's Tellechea's third goal of the year, and Billingsley takes the assist.
 
From there the Pilots searched for the equalizer, and they nearly found it a few times, including in the 71st minute when Rey Ortiz sent a free kick just high.
 
In the 83rd minute, Ortiz nodded it down to Gio Magana-Rivera near the top of the six-yard box, but Magana-Rivera's volley was wide of the right post. Moments later Benji Michel had a shot blocked from point-bank range, and the Pilots were unable to capitalize on the ensuing corner as the Gauchos (2-4-2) would escape with the win.
 
The Pilots had their chances in the first half, including in the 21st minute when they earned a free kick. Ortiz played in a nice ball, and Michel was there for a diving header. But it was high of the goal as the game remained scoreless.
 
Moments later Ortiz had another free kick from about 30 yards out, and this time the sophomore sent a bending shot towards that seemed destined for inside the upper 90, but it rattled the crossbar and bounced safely away. Portland had a few more opportunities late in the first half, but the two sides entered the break scoreless.
 
Portland opened the second half by earning four straight corners between the 50th and 52nd minutes, but the Pilots (4-3-0) couldn't connect with the final touch.

"We created enough chances in the game to get a different result tonight," said Portland head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt. "Always disappointing not to reward yourself when you create more corners and quality goal chances. The margins are small and we hit the crossbar in the first half, and had another goal called back. The difference tonight was they made one more play in the box. Our group will bounce back as we prepare to play a hot Cal Poly team who's doing very well in recent RPI."
 
The Pilots next head to San Luis Obispo on Monday to face the Cal Poly Mustangs, with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.