Six minutes into UC Santa Barbara's exhibition against Westmont, senior defender Kyle Kaveny fractured his left ankle, and last week junior midfielder C.J. Cintas broke his left foot during practice. Both are lost for the season.

"What got hurt is all our experience in the back," Coach Tim Vom Steeg said.

There was some good news on the injury front, however.

Freshman midfielder Danny Barrera practiced for the first time since injuring his knee and is expected to be ready for the Sept. 5 game against Kentucky, a match that will be televised live on FOX Soccer Channel.

Sophomore forward Bongomin Otii, who is recovering from a knee injury, is expected to be cleared to play a week after that.

Van Steeg was pleased with the play of freshmen Michael Tetteh and Peter McGlynn against Westmont.

"They were going to be prominent anyway," he said, "but now they become essential."

Also impressive was the way several other first-year Gauchos played in the victory over Westmont, making the losses of Kaveny and Cintas a little easier to swallow.

"These are freshmen who walked onto a Division I field and acted like they belonged," Vom Steeg said. "That allows me not to totally freak out over our two big losses."


PRO COMPETITION. Several programs tuned up for the men's season at starts Friday against pro teams, most recently Washington, which fell to the USL-1 defending champion Seattle Sounders, 1-0, on Wednesday on a goal by Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux

Mike Grella tallied a pair of goals as Duke earned a 2-2 tie with the USL-2 Real Maryland Monarchs.

Former Creighton star Michael Kraus assisted the only goal for the Kansas City Wizards against his old school in a 1-0 decision Monday morning at the Wizards' Swope Park training facility in Kansas City.