UCSB Upsets UCLA (and the Soccer Goal)

Madness ensued 90 minutes North of LA after the unranked Gauchos upset the heavily-favored UCLA Bruins in the National Soccer Finals.

Hordes of suddenly enthusiastic UCSB soccer fans celebrated in an unusual way by rushing the campus soccer field, yanking a goal from its foundation, and racing it through the streets of Isla Vista before sending it to its watery grave on the beach below the cliffs of Del Playa (video after the jump).

The LA Times reports that the Gaucho soccer coach had all but given up on the team in October after posting a disappointing 7-5 record. He threatened to bench all of the starters unless they got their shit together and clearly there was something horrible on that bench because Santa Barbara played like a pack of Peles, going on a 10-1-1 roll that climaxed Sunday with a 2-1 squeaker over the Bruins.

And that's when the goal met its match. What's interesting, though, is that UCSB upset UCLA nearly 2,000 miles away in St. Louis. No matter to the rowdy Gaucho students, who marched that goal through the college town.

A symbolic goal, if you will.

No word as to whether ceremonial couches were burned, as is the custom of the "sleepy" peninsula known for its partying, not its sports teams.

More videos of the celebration after the jump ...