SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team suffered defeat against Cal Poly for the first time in six years on Saturday, falling by a score of 2-0 in the first leg of the 2024 Blue-Green Rivalry. The game was decided by a pair of penalty-kick opportunities for the Mustangs.
 
FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"We picked the wrong team and location to play our worst game of the season," Vom Steeg said. "Our team failed to realize that a game at Cal Poly is less about soccer and more about your effort and we were simply outworked today. Hopefully that is a lesson that we will learn, since conference starts next Wednesday."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos created the first opportunity of what turned out to be a frantic first 15 minutes, with Kaden Standish popping up wide open at the back post for a free header less than five minutes into the match. He made good contact, but the shot was right at Cal Poly's goalkeeper.
 
The Mustangs had their first good scoring chance of the night five minutes later, breaking through on goal, but Caden Vom Steeg stepped in at the last minute to block the shot. However, only two minutes later, the Gauchos conceded a penalty kick. Still, they were unlucky to concede from it. David Mitzner guessed right and made the diving save down to his right, but the rebound fell right back to Cal Poly for a tap-in goal.
 
While the first 15 minutes had delivered high drama, the next 30 delivered very little, at least in the way of scoring chances. Neither team registered a shot, on or off target, from the 13^th minute through to halftime, though the Gauchos did win three corner kicks in that span.
 
After Cal Poly had had a good deal of the ball in the first half, the Gauchos started the second half better in terms of maintaining possession, but they had to contend with a Mustang defense which was all too happy to sit deep and launch counterattacks. Those counterattacks became more and more dangerous as time ticked away, and Mitzner was tested in multiple one-on-one situations.
 
The Gaucho goalie made a great kick save in the 51^st minute to keep Cal Poly from doubling their advantage, sticking out his left foot after a Mustang forward had slipped through. In the 71^st, he was millimeters away from making another great intervention in a similar spot, sliding to swipe the ball away from an on-rushing Mustang. However, the referee whistled for another penalty kick, deeming that Mitzner had tripped up the player without getting the ball. He went the right way again but was unable to make the save.
 
At the other end, the Gauchos were pushing numbers forward but finding few opportunities to shoot. Alexis Ledoux nearly pulled a miracle in the 67^th minute when his corner kick went past everyone and bounced off the back post, but it flew out instead of in. As it turned out, that would be the closest the Gauchos would come for the rest of the afternoon.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• The Gauchos recorded four shots in Saturday afternoon's match, their lowest total of the season. Of now three games where Santa Barbara has been held under 10 total shots, Saturday's was the first the Gauchos have lost.
• The Blue-Green Rivalry continued its tradition of being the best-attended fixture in college soccer, with an announced attendance of 9,657 at Saturday's match. UC Santa Barbara and their fans will have the chance to beat that and claim the nation's highest single-game attendance of the season on Sunday.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos return home for a pair of matches next week, hosting UC San Diego on Wednesday night before playing the rematch against Cal Poly on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m. The game against the Mustangs will be nationally televised on ESPNU.