OREM, Utah — The No. 22 UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team makes its last regular-season trip out of California this week, traveling to face Utah Valley in Utah on Thursday before returning home to host Portland at Harder Stadium on Sunday. Thursday will be the Gauchos' first ever trip to Orem, Utah, having hosted the Wolverines in both of their two previous meetings, scoring five goals on both occasions.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
Santa Barbara and Utah Valley will kick off from Clyde Field in Orem at 4 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday. Sunday's match against Portland will get underway at 7 p.m. from Harder Stadium. Both contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos are back into the top 25 ahead of this week's action, reaching No. 22 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and sitting atop the USC Far West Region Rankings. Santa Barbara posted consecutive shutouts last week, defeating Pacific, 1-0, and drawing, 0-0, with New Hampshire. Andrew Kamienski was named The Big West Defensive Player of the Week for his role in the consecutive clean sheets. The Gauchos' most recent action was an exhibition match against Westmont, the 61^st Community Shield. Zac Siebenlist shone in that contest, scoring both of UC Santa Barbara's goals. Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg suggested postgame that Siebenlist's performance has all but assured the freshman a spot on the team's trip to Utah.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Utah Valley (5-0-2) comes into Thursday's match without a loss, but the Gauchos will be their toughest opponent yet. Of the five teams the Wolverines have beaten, none have a winning record, with just Florida Atlantic and Lindenwood sitting at exactly .500. Based purely on opponent record, Utah Valley's best result so far is their 2-2 draw with UC Davis in Davis.
 
In redshirt senior midfielder Omar Yehya, the Wolverines have a bona fide attacking star; he ranks third in the nation for goals (seven) and total points (16), having found the back of the net five times in Utah Valley's last three games. After a three-goal haul over two matches last weekend, he is the reigning WAC Offensive Player of the Week.
 
Junior goalkeeper Ben Williams also has a WAC weekly honor to his name this season and is among the top 40 netminders nationwide in goals-against average (.857). In front of him, graduate defender Tom Dobek-Pietrowski has twice been named WAC Defensive Player of the Week this season.
 
SCOUTING THE PILOTS
Portland (2-3-1) was ranked No. 22 coming into the 2024 season and rocketed up to No. 8 after upsetting Washington in their opening match, but they have not beaten an NCAA opponent since and have fallen out of the rankings. After a 2-0 loss to then-No. 10 UCLA, the Pilots defeated NAIA program Multnomah, then suffered an upset loss to Cal State Bakersfield, a 1-1 draw with Utah Tech and a 2-0 loss to Saint Louis, all at home. They will travel to No. 3 Denver on Thursday before visiting Santa Barbara.
 
The Pilots did hand the Gauchos a 4-2 loss in Portland last season, and while they lost a collection of last year's stars to graduation and the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, the 2024 Portland squad still poses quite the goal-scoring threat. The Pilots rank seventh nationally in total shots per game, averaging 17.5 per contest, with 7.67 shots on target per game, good four fourth nationally. Even without their 7-2 of Multnomah, Portland still averages 14.6 shots a game over their five contests against Division-I opposition. However, only 37% of those shots have been on target, while Portland's Division-I opponents are putting 54.3% of their shots on goal, on average.
 
In terms of players to watch, the Pilots to know are Nick Fernandez, Buba Fofanah and Sebastian Nava. Nava leads the team in both goals (two) and assists (three), while Fofanah leads the squad in both total shots and shots on goal, ranking 28^th in the country with a 60% shot accuracy. Fernandez was named to the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List as a Player of the Year candidate prior to the season.
 
UP NEXT
Only Big West opponents remain on the Gauchos' schedule following this week; Santa Barbara will play the non-conference leg of the Blue-Green Rivalry at Cal Poly on Saturday, Sept. 28, then open Big West play at home against UC San Diego on Oct. 2.