SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. (Aug. 21, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team will play two games in three days this week which include the Community Shield Game against Westmont College on Tuesday, Aug. 22. Following the match, the Gauchos will travel to Fresno State to take on the Bulldogs on Thursday, Aug. 24.

The Gauchos and Warriors will meet for the 29th time in the annual Community Shield Game. Named the Community Shield for a reason, the match has always been intended to bring people in and around Santa Barbara together. Last year, UC Santa Barbara narrowly defeated Westmont 1-0.

UC Santa Barbara will then travel north to take on Fresno State. The Gauchos and Bulldogs all-time series is knotted at 7-7-1, but Santa Barbara has the upper hand as of late. Since the 2005 season, the Gauchos are 7-2-1 against Fresno averaging just under two goals per game over that stretch.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
Following the first week of the 2023 season, the Gauchos find themselves currently tied for second place in The Big West with UC San Diego at 1-0-1. On the week the Gauchos saw three student-athletes score over the course of their two games. Olivia Howard and Leila Emmerson found the back of the net in the season opener against Loyola Marymount, while Lauren Helwig netted her first goal of the season in the 22nd minute against San Jose State.

UC Santa Barbara is coming off a 1-1 draw at San Jose State. After falling behind early in the first half the Gauchos regrouped and were able to come out of the match with a draw. Taylor Little pitched a second-half shutout for the Gauchos helping them to the result.

On the backline for the Gauchos, Brenna Madruga and Shaye Douglas excelled. Madruga played all but eight minutes over the course of two games while Douglas played all but 12. The two helped pitch a shutout in the opening game of the regular season before holding the defending Mountain West Champions to one goal and keeping them off the scoreboard for the final 83:38 of the game.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
The Warriors, now a Division II institution will wrap up their preseason with the Community Shield Game. Prior to playing the Gauchos, Westmont won their first exhibition match against Santa Barbara City College, 4-1.

Westmont is coming off an impressive 2022 season which saw them go 16-1-3 overall and 7-0-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). The Warriors went on to win the GSAC Tournament and the NAIA Opening Round Tournament, before falling to Aquinas College in the NAIA Tournament.

The Warriors return three of their top five goal scorers from last year in Amarys Machado, Grace Duckens and Ande Siegel. Ande Siegel was named to the 2022 All-GSAC Team after posting five goals and five assists, totaling 15 points for the Warriors. Taylie Scott returns for the Warriors as well, also named to the 2022 All-GSAC team, Scott helped post 10 clean sheets for the Warriors last season.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Much like the Gauchos the Bulldogs went 1-0-1 during the opening week of the women's soccer 2023 season. The Bulldogs played two matches against Big West opponents. They first tied with Cal Poly at home before picking up a road win at Cal State Bakersfield.

Megan Galvan leads the Bulldogs in points with one goal and one assist for a total of three points. The senior recorded all three points in the win over Bakersfield on Sunday, Aug. 20. Galvan has already tied her season total in goals, assists and points from last season. Fresno has played two goalkeepers evenly in both matches. Valentina Vivas and Kaydence Cortez-Garcia have split time evenly across two games both recording 90 minutes in net.

Fresno State was picked to finish 11th in the Mountain West's 2023 Women's Soccer Preseason Poll after posting a 1-14-4 overall record and 1-8-2 record in the Mountain West.

FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Warriors will kick off at Harder Stadium at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 22. For those who cannot attend in person, a live stream is available through ESPN+ and live stats will be provided through ucsbgauchos.com.

UC Santa Barbara and Fresno State will kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24 in Fresno, Calif. For those who cannot attend in person, a live stream is available through the Mountain West Network with live stats provided through gobulldogs.com.