SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – After a road trip that saw the Gauchos go 0-1-1, the UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team returns home for two matches this week. They first welcome the University of Omaha on Thursday, Sept. 12 followed by the Pacific Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 15.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos opened their two-match road trip with a scoreless draw in New Mexico in very windy conditions. Following their fourth draw of the season, UC Santa Barbara traveled to Colorado College where they lost heartbreakingly, 3-2. Now back home, the Gauchos look to get back on the right foot in front of their home crowd.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
The Mavericks come into the contest unbeaten through their first six matches, posting a 4-0-2 record and have collected three wins in their last four matches. For the second straight week, Omaha has been tabbed seventh in the West Region rankings by the United Soccer Coaches.
Omaha sports a plus-6 goal differential allowing just two goals through six matches. Redshirt Senior, Marissa Gohr, currently leads the team with three goals, three assists and nine total points. Gohr has already surpassed her assist total from a year ago and is one goal and one point away from tying her goals and points from last season. Alyssa Kellar is another multi-goal scorer for the Mavs. She has scored twice and assisted once on the young season.
Omaha has split their goalkeepers in net for the first four matches of the season. Mia Reedtz Rehde Olessen and Maja Baun have each played 270 minutes in goal, both allowed just one goal and both sporting a 0.33 goals-against average. Reedtz Rehde Olssen has two more saves and a slightly better save percentage (0.923 to 0.909) than Baun. The Gauchos will need to be incredibly thoughtful in their attack to find the back of the net in this match.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
The Tigers, like the Gauchos, come into the week with a single win under their belt. Pacific defeated Houston Christian on their season-opener but have not found the win column since going 0-5-1 in a six-game stretch. Along the way they have dropped two matches to Big West foes, UC Davis and Cal Poly.
The Tigers are averaging one goal per contest through their first seven matches of the season. Sierah McCallum and Alexis Pashales each have scored two goals, which leads the team. McCallum has come off the bench to score her two while Pashales has started every match for the Tigers thus far.
Libby Davy has started six of the Tigers seven matches in goal. She has allowed 15 goals, recorded 28 saves and posts a 0.651 save percentage. She has allowed less than three goals just twice this season. The Tigers also have Sierra Schwarz who has appeared in five matches allowing nine goal and 23 saves. All nine goals were allowed in the Tigers last match against nationally-ranked Utah State.
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos' match against Omaha will kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12. Santa Barbara's Sunday match against Pacific will kick off at 1 p.m. Both contests can be streamed through ESPN+ and live stats will be available for both matches.
