UCSB men's soccer shutout win over UCI

The UC Santa Barbara men's soccer team, ranked No. 25 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, arrived at UC Irvine's Anteater Stadium on Oct. 12 hungry for a goal and ready for a win after its last two games ended in draws. They showed up and played hard, defeating the Anteaters with a final score of 1-0.

Anteater Stadium has proven to be quite a difficult atmosphere for the Gauchos as this is their first road win against Irvine since 2015 and their record this season is 8-2-3. The UCI crowd and the UCI team brought a huge boost in intensity, creating a loud atmosphere on the pitch and keeping the referees on their toes. There were a total of nine yellow cards in this game: five for UCSB and four for UCI.

The Gauchos had a clear plan to keep the ball and attack aggressively when opportunities arose. UCI was clearly at a disadvantage at the start of the game, with all three goalkeepers on their squad out with two injuries and a game suspension due to a red card. They were forced to replace a player who had no experience in the position. This led to the Anteaters starting the game more defensively, staying in their own half of the pitch and relying on the counter attack. UCSB saw this as an opportunity to turn up the heat and test the goalie with long shots on goal throughout the game.

From the start of the game until the halftime whistle, UCSB remained on the attacking side as they dominated possession. Experienced striker Alexis Ledoux, who was conspicuous throughout this game and showed impressive ball control, was the first to directly attack the UCI goalkeeper with a shot in the 15th minute, resulting in an unexpected but skillfully executed diving save from the inexperienced goalkeeper provoked.

The Gauchos remained aggressive with a total of eight shots in the first half, while the Anteaters only had two. The whistle blew at half-time, which meant a somewhat frustrating result for UCSB and the pitch ended in a 0-0 draw despite numerous attempts to put the ball into the net.

Head coach Tim Vom Steeg commented on the Gauchos' performance after the game. “We certainly need to take advantage of more of our chances, but if our defense plays the way it is right now, we will get a 1-0 road win in the Big West Conference,” Vom Steeg said.

The Gauchos came out of halftime motivated to capitalize on the success of the aggressive offense and didn't take long to do so. In the 51st minute, senior defender Caden Vom Steeg sent a long ball that bounced off the UCI defense and fell into the lap of junior striker Nicolas Willumsen at the top of the penalty area. Willumsen took the first touch of the ball, which was placed perfectly low and out of the goalie's reach into the left goal post, giving UCSB a 1-0 lead and securing Willumsen's third goal of the season.

After that goal, both teams' strategies began to change as UCI increased the pressure to score an equalizer and UCSB retreated to defense for the rest of the game, taking advantage of spaces and shooting opportunities upfield when possible. Although the Anteaters gained intensity on offense, this UCSB defense – much improved from last season – held UCI to just three shots and a scoreless second half to secure the win. UCSB still outscored UCI by nine shots in the second half, making the game a total of 17 shots for UCSB and five for UCI. The Gauchos returned home satisfied and ended the two-game away series with a narrow victory.

As of October 13th, UCSB is ranked 25th in the NCAA and will face UC Davis in another conference match at home at Harder Stadium on October 16th.

A version of this article appeared in the October 17 print edition of the Daily Nexus.