Saint Mary's defeated UC Santa Barbara 94-0 Saturday in the opening game of the DIA California Conference season.

The game, amazingly, was much more competitive than the score might indicate, especially early in the game. Much of the first half was spent in Saint Mary's territory, but the Gauchos could not breach the Gael's tryline. Saint Mary's committed way too many penalties, and found themselves defending lineouts, scrums, and tap penalties close to their goal line. 

However, mistakes by UCSB and some snappy tackling from Saint Mary's prevented the Gauchos from scoring. Saint Mary's got their first try when they pressured the UCSB backline around midfield. The ball hit the deck and Tommy Wallace scooped it up and raced in. Then, UCSB has one of their longest period inside the Saint Mary's 22. However, when working a backline move off a lineout, they bobbled the ball and Michael Wallace nabbed the ball and galloped 90 meters for a try. Dylan Audsley made the difficult conversion for a 14-0 lead.

Still UCSB pressured, but another turnover led to Tommy Wallace getting his second. Then one of the better periods of phase play ended up with captain and No. 8 Kevin O'Connor drawing the last man and setting Tommy Wallace through for his third. Audsley was good on the conversions for a 28-0 lead. The tries started to come thick and fast after that. The forwards lineup in the backline and passed as if they were backs, setting up to prop Payton Telea for a try on the wing.

Up 40-0 at halftime, the Gaels worked the ball impressively through the hands and UCSB eventually saw the writing on the wall. The Gauchos will rue those missed opportunities early, but over the full 80 minutes, Saint Mary's was just too much.