Saturday, December 7 at 2 p.m. PST

UC Santa Barbara at [4] Wake Forest

 

Wake Forest (15-4-2, 6-2-0 Atlantic Coast, 11-1-2 home)

All-time record vs. the Demon Deacons (W-L-T): 0-1-1

Record vs. the Demon Deacons in the NCAA Tournament: 0-0-1

Demon Deacons' record in NCAA Tournament: 32-18-4

Demon Deacons' record in NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals: 5-2-0

Last meeting: Sept. 21, 2008; Wake Forest 6, at UCSB 2

 

 

 

The Gauchos' quarterfinal match against fourth-seeded Wake Forest will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, WatchESPN, and the ESPN app at 2 a.m. Pacific/5 p.m. Eastern. Ty Collins is the play-by-play broadcaster, while Kyle Bonn joins him on color.

 

UCSBGauchos.com will offer an audio-only broadcast of Saturday's game. Sports Information Director Arthur Wilkie will handle the play-by-play, while current Gaucho student-athlete Carson Vom Steeg will deliver color commentary. The pregame show will go live at 1:45 p.m.

 

As the field has continuously whittled down from the original field of 48 over the last several weeks, the Gauchos are still dancing as the quarterfinal round approaches. What began as the team's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2015 has blossomed into a potential third College Cup appearance in program history. The Gauchos rebounded from the disappointment of losing the Big West Tournament Final at UC Davis with three consecutive victories. The Gauchos avenged their early season 3-0 loss to Cal by defeating the Golden Bears 3-1 in the first round. Then, UCSB shocked Saint Mary's in the second round, dealing the Gaels what was just their second loss in the past two seasons. Most recently, UCSB got its revenge for the 2004 College Cup Final by bringing Indiana's 38-game home unbeaten run to an end.

 

After Sunday's game at Indiana, the Gauchos are 21-10-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, sporting a 13-2-0 home record.

 

The Gauchos have a 5-4-2 overtime record in the NCAA Tournament after Sunday's win.

 

Santa Barbara has seen its games go to penalty kicks twice: first in the 2004 College Cup final vs Indiana (the Hoosiers won 3-2 on penalties), and then in the 2006 College Cup semifinal vs Wake Forest (the Gauchos won 4-3 on penalties).

 

The Gauchos improved to 3-5 all-time in third round matches with their upset win over Indiana. All eight of UCSB's third round appearances have come on the road.

 

UCSB has advanced in both of its quarterfinal appearances all-time, defeating Virginia Commonwealth 4-1 in 2004 and Northwestern 3-2 in 2006. Both of those games were played at Harder Stadium.

 

The Gauchos are 1-1-1 against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in the NCAA Tournament, winning 5-0 in the 2004 semifinal vs Duke, drawing 0-0 in the 2006 semifinal vs Wake Forest but winning the penalty kick shootout 4-3 to advance to the final, and losing 3-2 in the 2015 third round at Clemson.

 

Against all odds, UCSB ended Indiana's 38-game home unbeaten streak by defeating the Hoosiers 1-0 in overtime. Following a tight 90 minutes in which neither team found a breakthrough, junior centerback Hunter Ashworth prevented Indiana's Joshua Penn from ending the game in the first overtime with a last-ditch intervention on the endline. As the game trickled into the second overtime, Indiana centerback Jordan Kleyn slipped on the grass while receiving a backpass from the right side, upon which Will Baynham capitalized to score his second overtime game-winner of the season. Of note for the Gauchos, junior centerback Hunter Ashworth received his eighth yellow card of the season in the contest, triggering a one-game suspension to be served in the game at Wake Forest.

 

The Demon Deacons lost just two matches in Atlantic Coast Conference play, 2-1 at Boston College and 1-0 at home against Notre Dame. Wake Forest stumbled into the NCAA Tournament, earning just one win in its final five matches of the season including the ACC Tournament, but since entering the NCAA Tournament they have been nothing short of sensational, defeating College Cup holders Maryland 3-0 and 13th-seeded Michigan 3-1. The black and gold are led by attacking midfielder Bruno Lapa and striker Kyle Holcomb, each with nine goals on the season. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Pannenberg has been sensational this year, allowing just 14 goals in 20 games played, recording eight shutouts.

 

It's difficult to look at this run and not compare it to successes of past Gaucho teams in the NCAA Tournament. Among the similarities between the 2004 and 2006 campaigns and now:

 

UCSB's national championship in 2006 began with a first round victory against San Diego State at home.

 

When the Gauchos won the title in 2006, they were unseeded.

 

The Gauchos' seven goals scored in the first and second round wins over Cal and Saint Mary's, respectively, stand as second-most scored in a two-game span in their NCAA Tournament history, only behind the nine goals scored in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds in 2004.

 

Among the highlights of the Gauchos' stellar campaign so far:

 

UCSB defeated Cal Poly twice in a season for the first time since 2006, when they won the national title.

 

45 goals scored so far are most in a season since 2011 and would rank as eighth-most in program history.

 

Santa Barbara defeated Cal for the first time since 2003 in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

 

Senior wingback Noah Billingsley earned the Big West Conference's Defensive Player of the Year designation, senior attacking midfielder Thibault Candia earned Co-Midfielder of the Year honors, while Finn Ballard McBride received the Freshman Player of the Year award in the league's end-of-year awards announced Nov. 12. The full list of Gaucho honorees is as follows:

 

First Team - Rodney Michael (third selection), Noah Billingsley (second selection), Hunter Ashworth (second selection), Sahid Conteh, Thibault Candia

Second Team - Finn Ballard McBride, Ben Roach

Honorable Mention - Will Baynham

All-Freshman Team - Finn Ballard McBride

 

The Gauchos' eight selections across the four teams are the most since 2016 (nine).

 

Senior right wingback Noah Billingsley and junior centerback Hunter Ashworth were successful in representing New Zealand U-23 at the Oceania Football Confederation U-23 Championship in Fiji, winning the tournament after defeating Solomon Islands 5-0 in the final. The Kiwi duo helped their home country qualify for its first Olympics since 2012 at the tournament. In the "Oly-Whites'" final match of the group stage, Billingsley started and scored in New Zealand's comeback 4-2 win against the Solomon Islands.

 

The plaudits continue to pour in for Ben Roach as his stellar performances in net have continued for the Gauchos. He earned recognition as an All-Big West second teamer thanks to a year that included a season and career-high 10 saves at Cal Poly on Nov. 2 and a nine-save performance at UC Davis in the regular season. The reliable Santa Barbara native has 12 shutouts so far this year, moving into a tie for third place on the all-time single-season shutout list with Kyle Reynish's 2006 campaign. The sophomore has started every game for the Gauchos this year.

 

In the match against UMBC on Sept. 22, Thibault Candia scored the Gauchos' first hat trick since Luis Silva did the same on September 23, 2011 against San Diego. The first goal came early in the first half when Will Baynham played the ball forward for Candia in midfield, where he dribbled the ball into the left side of the 18-yard box, where his attempted cross into the middle took an immediate deflection off the foot of an opposing player and into the net. In the second half, he put away a penalty into the top left corner and brilliantly dribbled the ball from just past midfield to a few yards behind the top of the box, where he got a shot off with his right foot. For his efforts, he was awarded the Big West Co-Offensive Player of the Week award.

 

Noah Billingsley became the first player in the Big West this season to record three assists in a game after assisting the second, third, and fourth goals in UCSB's 5-0 win at No. 22 Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 12. It was Santa Barbara's first triple-assist performance since Memo Arzate completed the feat in 2003 in his 18-assist campaign.