LOS ANGELES — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team is still dancing. The Gauchos won their NCAA Tournament first round match at UCLA on Thursday night, with Nicolas Willumsen scoring the game-winning goal less than three minutes into overtime. The Dane's strike gave Santa Barbara a walk-off, 1-0 win over the Bruins and a ticket to the Round of 32, where they will face No. 16 national seed Stanford in Palo Alto on Sunday.
 
FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"What an exciting win for the program," Vom Steeg said. "We went from not thinking we would be in the tournament after a very disappointing loss to be able to rebound and play arguably our best game of the year against a quality opponent."
 
"We took a lot of lessons from the last game …. We made a concerted effort from our last game to this one to make UCLA have to defend for long stretches. It's very hard to take them off the ball, so when you get the ball off of them, the last thing you need to do is turn around and give it right back to them. Credit to the players, we talked about the game plan, we talked about staying on the ball as much as you can, but overall, it comes off of good performances. Each of the players, and you can go through everybody that played tonight, they worked hard to stay on the ball and that was a key part, I thought, for the game."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos came out strong, controlling the pace of the game and spending most of the first 30 minutes with the ball at their feet. They created plenty of chances too, out-shooting the Bruins, 9-1, in the first half hour of action. UCLA's one shot was a dangerous one-on-one opportunity, but Santa Barbara goalkeeper David Mitzner made a brilliant kick save to keep UCLA out. Meanwhile, the Gaucho attack was making the Bruins' keeper and five-man defensive line work hard at the other end. Alexis Ledoux had a shot blocked in the eighth minute, but Ramses Martinez was on the spot to clean up the rebound, though he was denied by the woodwork.
 
In the 23^rd minute, Manu Duah wound up and launched a shot from over 30 yards out that required a save from the UCLA goalkeeper, and Ledoux forced another save less than a minute later. The Gauchos' dominance of possession was thanks in large part to the incredible work rate of their forwards: Ledoux, Willlumsen and Isaiah Barber, who harried the Bruin defenders and goalkeeper nearly every time they had the ball. However, despite a few more chances, there was to be no goal by halftime.
 
The Gauchos did have to dodge a couple bullets late in the first 45, with Mitzner making his second stop of the night in the 42^nd minute and watching a header from a wide-open Bruin sail harmlessly wide in the 43^rd.
 
After halftime, Willumsen was clearly still in the mood as he fired the first shot of the second half, a venomous attempt from the right wing, though it was not the greatest challenge for the keeper. After that, the Bruins found their way into the game somewhat, especially between the 50^th and 70^th minutes, when they attempted all three of their second-half shots. Mitzner made two more saves to keep the game scoreless, and the Gauchos regained the upper hand.
 
Ethan Senter nearly won the game in regular time for Santa Barbara, being in the right place at the right time to get a clean look at goal after the ball pinballed around the penalty area, but he put his shot just high. The Gauchos also got a corner kick in the final minute, but that came to nothing.
 
Thankfully for Santa Barbara, it did not take long at all for them to score in extra time. In the 93^rd minute, Kaden Standish, freshly into the game after sitting on the bench for all of regulation, picked up the ball on the right wing just outside the penalty area and found a wide-open Willumsen some 15 yards from goal. The big Dane took one touch to set himself, then smashed the ball through the goalkeeper's hands and into the back of the net for the game-winning goal.
 
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETES
Calle Mollerberg on the team's mentality in the game: "We were really sad after our loss, obviously," Mollerberg said. "When we got the news that we were in the tournament, a shift kind of happened. When we got down here, we knew it was a straight business trip, we took care of it, and I'm really proud of the boys."
 
Nicolas Willumsen on making the most of the tournament berth: "I think we all realized that we got this second chance because we have been good all season, got a lot of wins, and this second chance meant that we were just fired up," Willumsen said. "We came into this game with the right game plan, the right mindset, and we were just ready to fight for each other as a team and get this win. It's an amazing feeling, honestly, I can't even describe."
 
Mollerberg on looking ahead: "We're going to take it one game at a time. We have Stanford now, so we're not really focused on Ohio (State) or any other team, we're just really excited for Sunday."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Thursday night's win is UC Santa Barbara's 22^nd overall in NCAA Tournament play, improving their all-time record to 22-12-2 in the national postseason. It is also their second postseason win over UCLA (the other being the 2006 National Championship game), the first NCAA Tournament meeting between Gauchos and Bruins not decided by a 2-1 scoreline.
• The Gauchos recorded their 14^th NCAA Tournament shutout on Thursday night, their first since a 1-0 double-overtime win over Indiana in 2019, which was also Santa Barbara's most recent NCAA Tournament victory.
• The Gauchos are now 6-4-2 in overtime games in the NCAA Tournament since their first appearance in 2002.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will go on to play at Stanford in the second round of this year's NCAA Tournament, Sunday at 5 p.m. in Palo Alto. The Cardinal are the No. 16 seed in the tournament field. It will be a first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between Santa Barbara and Stanford.