SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (August 16, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team is set to open up the 2023 regular season this Thursday, Aug. 17 against the Loyola Marymount Lions. The two teams have not competed against each other since 2019 when UC Santa Barbara defeated LMU 4-2 and the Gauchos moved their all-time series record to 3-6-4 against the Lions.
 
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara returns Lauren Helwig and Meg Burling who were the leading-goal scorers and top-two players in points, respectively. Coming into the 2023 season the Gauchos were picked sixth in the 2023 Big West Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll and received one first-place vote. Entering this season, Helwig was selected to the 2023 Big West Preseason Coaches' Team after earning First Team All-Big West honors last fall.
 
With the departure of Evann Smith, the Gauchos will surround their new keeper with experience on the back line. UC Santa Barbara returns Shaye Douglas, O'Callaghan Liu and Alyssa O'Brien to defense. The trio helped register five clean sheets during the 2022 season and looks to increase that count this year.
 
The Gauchos welcome 12 newcomers for the upcoming season, 10 freshmen and two transfers. Jessica Carlton and Keile Hansen join the Gauchos after playing for multiple seasons at Boston College and Boise State respectively. The two will add to an already experienced lineup. Along with the transfers the Gauchos will welcome the 10 freshmen from across three states.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Lions return their top three goal scorers from a year ago in Alice Santen, Jennessa Groves and Amanda Perez. Santen led the team in minutes (1,530), goals (3) and points (9) in the 2022 season en route to being named Honorable Mention All-WCC. Groves played and started in 16 of the 17 matches from a season ago recording three goals in 775 minutes played. Perez ranked second on the team in goals with two and recorded four points good for third on the team. Coming into the season the Lions were projected to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference.
 
The Lions Honorable Mention All-WCC goalkeeper Amanda Delgado has departed from LMU and they will look to a new face in goal to hold down the cage. Delgado started all 17 matches for the Lions recording 75 saves, 1.12 goals against average and recorded a record of 3-8-6. The Lions will turn to one of four goalkeepers on the roaster to man the cage this season.
 
The Lions played an exhibition match again Big West foe, Cal State Fullerton as a tune-up for their regular season opener against the Gauchos. LMU leads the all-time series 6-3-4 but has not beaten the Gauchos since the 2015 season.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Tickets for the match can be purchased ahead of time by clicking here. For any questions regarding ticket information, you can call (805) 724-6896 or email athletics-tickets@ucsb.edu.

The Gauchos and Lions will kick off at Harder Stadium at 7 p.m. For those who cannot attend in person, a live stream is available through ESPN+ and live stats will be provided through ucsbgauchos.com.