SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer forward Steinar Bjornsson must be wondering where his luck went. After pouncing on a bad pass and finishing between the keeper's legs for his first collegiate goal Wednesday night, the Icelander fired nine shots at UC Irvine's net Saturday, four of which asked questions of the goalie. All four were saved, as Bjornsson and the Gauchos had to settle for a scoreless draw with the Anteaters. While the result extends Santa Barbara's unbeaten run to 11 matches and — thanks to help elsewhere — moved them into first place in The Big West standings, it did not guarantee the Gauchos a first-round bye in the conference tournament. That task now falls to the season's final day, when a draw could be enough to secure it.
 
FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"I mean, we had 21 shots to 10 and I thought we dominated all portions of the game," Vom Steeg said. "To be honest, that was probably the best first half we've played all season, and we put the second half together and it's just really, really disappointing because when you play like that, you should be good enough to get a goal … As a coach, I couldn't ask for anything more. Again, I'm disappointed for the players because when you play like that, you should get a win."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara took control of the game early, and by the 30^th minute they were completely dominating it, going on to out-shoot Irvine, 10-1, in the first half. It took some time for the Gauchos to turn their control into opportunities, but when their first big one came, it broke the dam wide open. Zac Siebenlist got behind the Anteater defense in the 14^th minute and played a ball that was half cross and half shot towards the back post, where Kaden Standish was arriving, but the ball was tipped just enough to disrupt the timing, and while Standish was still able to get a shot off, the Irvine defense had recovered to block it. And that Irvine defense did plenty of blocking on Saturday night. Of the Gauchos' 21 total shots, five were on goal and saved by Anteater goalkeeper Joe O'Shaughnessy, and an additional nine were blocked by the defense in front of him.
 
In the 27^th minute, an Irvine defender spoiled Ramses Martinez's shot after the senior had snaked his way through the Anteater back line and unleashed a venomous shot towards goal. Not even a minute later, the defense blocked another attempt, this time from Standish, who was plenty lively after missing Wednesday night's game. He finished with four shots on the night, all of them in the opening 30 minutes.
 
While his teammates were being frustrated by the Irvine defense in the first half, Bjornsson was testing O'Shaughnessy. The Icelander forced the first save of the match in the 20^th minute and arguably the best one in the 39^th, unleashing a bolt from the blue that took every inch of O'Shaughnessy's 6-foot-7 frame getting down to his left to swat wide.
 
It was more of the same from the Gauchos after halftime, as they won a corner kick inside the first minute of the second half and took just 120 seconds to put up their first shot of the half, taken by none other than Bjornsson. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was blocked, but his next attempt took saving in the 59^th minute.
 
While Bjornsson was certainly unlucky that none of his attempts found twine on Saturday night, Martinez may have had the single unluckiest moment in the 70^th minute. The Gauchos built up a play beautifully, passing the ball from back to front with Martinez dribbling to within about 12 yards of goal and firing, only for his shot to hit his teammate and deflect harmlessly wide.
 
As the seconds ticked down, Bjornsson's shot count ticked up, the Icelander taking five of Santa Barbara's final six attempts of the match. Two of them were blocked, and his final attempt, in the 89^th minute, took a palm from O'Shaughnessy to keep it from sneaking under the crossbar. A different day might have seen it fall in.
 
While Bjornsson was banging on the Anteaters' door in the game's dying stages, Owen Beninga and the Gaucho defense were doing their usual work to keep things tightly sealed at the other end of the pitch. That elite unit was tested by a couple of bad giveaways but recovered from both, highlighted by Beninga making a solid stop in the 85^th minute and, more importantly, smothering the rebound before an onrushing Anteater forward could get to it for a tap-in.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Saturday night's clean sheet is the ninth for the Gauchos this season, matching the 2021, 2005, 1990 and 1978 squads for the ninth-most shutouts in one campaign in program history. Beninga owns seven of them, putting him one away from ninth-most by a single Santa Barbara goalkeeper in a single season.
• Beninga is also now qualified for The Big West stat leaderboards, where he leads in both save percentage (.966) and goals-against average (.116). He ranks second in shutouts, but has achieved his seven in six fewer matches than the conference leader got his eight.  
• With the draw, the Gauchos have matched the 2019, 2012 and 2004 UC Santa Barbara squads for the fourth-longest unbeaten run in the program's history, at 11 matches.
• Saturday's draw also set a new UC Santa Barbara record, though a dubious one, as 2025 is now the first season ever that the Gauchos have tied seven matches.
• On the topic of milestones, two of UC Santa Barbara's graduating student-athletes, Buba Fofanah and Nicolas Willumsen, played their 75^th career NCAA games on their Senior Night. Drew Kamienski played his 50^th.

 
UP NEXT
Tied with Cal State Fullerton atop The Big West standings (but holding the tiebreaker thanks to their 1-0 win at Titan Stadium earlier this season), the Gauchos have one match left in their regular season, at CSUN next Saturday, Nov. 1. A win would see them win The Big West Regular Season Championship, and a draw could be enough to secure a first-round bye, as long as UC Irvine does not win by three or more goals. Kickoff from Northridge is set for 7 p.m., with the match to be streamed live on ESPN+.