SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg was not quick to call it momentum, but his team is at least on a winning streak now. The Gauchos convincingly defeated UC Riverside on Saturday night, 3-0, to continue their unbeaten start to Big West play. Buba Fofanah scored his third goal in the last four games and Zac Siebenlist got himself back on the scoresheet to put Santa Barbara ahead by two inside the first 15 minutes, then Kaden Standish put the cherry on top with a stunning free kick goal in the second half.
 
FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"I don't know if two (wins) give you momentum, but I think three or four does," Vom Steeg said. "We kind of knew what they were going to do, and we took advantage on those first two goals, especially on that right-hand side. We took advantage of that, and then the problem is, you go up 2-0, they came out at halftime and of course they're going to adjust, and at that point we talked about, 'look, we're going to have to weather the storm for 15, 20 minutes.' We said, if we can just get even two goals, that's more than we've been scoring all year. Our emphasis going forward all year is going to be our defense. I was really happy with how we played offensively, finally got going a bit, but we also had two or three chances to score in the second half and we didn't hit frame."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos utterly dominated the first half, controlling 65% of the possession and rattling off 12 shots in the opening 45 minutes. It took less than five minutes for Santa Barbara to get on the board, but the breakthrough nearly came even sooner. Steinar Bjornsson got a good look at goal in the fourth minute but was unable to direct his back-heeled shot on target. Just 50 seconds later, Fofanah opened the scoring in a matter of six touches. Colby Renton won the ball back in the midfield, his tackle sending it right to Siebenlist, who flicked a pass on to Bjornsson. The Icelander took a touch, then found Fofanah, who took two more to turn away from his defender. The final touch tucked the ball into the bottom corner.
 
The Highlanders had one real opportunity to respond, a shot that was deflected just wide of the near post in the 12^th minutes, but before they could get another, the Gauchos had doubled their advantage. This time Fofanah started the move rather than finishing it, playing a pass through the Highlander defense, which Ramses Martinez chased down. Before running out of field, Martinez played a worm-burning pass towards goal, which Siebenlist met at the near post, applying just the slightest of flicks to guide the ball under the sliding UCR goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
 
The Gauchos forced a couple more saves, but Siebenlist's goal was the last major action before halftime. Santa Barbara goalkeeper Owen Beninga did not even need to make a save until the final seconds of the half, smothering a tame effort.
 
The Gauchos should have had their third goal shortly after halftime, with Fofanah and Martinez connecting again and Martinez playing the same type of pass that led to Siebenlist's goal, but Bjornsson could not get his foot to it and Standish ended up blazing a shot high and wide. Then, it was time for the Gauchos to weather the storm.
 
The most panicked moment came in the 53^rd minute, when the Highlanders got on the counterattack and Beninga found himself in no man's land. UCR got a shot off at a largely unguarded net, but Eddie Villeda had recovered well and was in the right place to block the shot. Ten minutes later, the Highlanders made a couple more dangerous forays forward, the first of which resulted in a free kick right at the edge of the penalty area. They got the shot over the wall but could not get it to come back down below the crossbar. A minute later, Beninga made the best stop of the night after UCR captain Jackson D'Alessandro made a mazy run forward and fired a venomous shot at the top corner, only to be denied by the big Gaucho goalkeeper at full stretch.
 
That Beninga save was effectively the last of the storm, as Santa Barbara regained control of the match, thanks in part to the debut of Jack Middleton, though the freshman did get booked less than a minute after coming on. The freshman defensive midfielder had been tabbed as one of the top men for the job of replacing Manu Duah before the season but missed every game until Saturday with an injury.
 
The Gauchos put the game beyond all doubt with Standish's free kick in the 75^th minute. From a tight angle on the sideline, Standish decided to shoot rather than play a cross into the box and was rewarded for his decision, thumping a shot through the goalkeeper's hands and into the back of the net. He celebrated the moment with a group of youngsters on hand for Santa Barbara Soccer Club and Central Coast Academy Night at the stadium.
 
FROM THE STUDENT-ATHLETES
"I remember the Toni Kroos goal in the (2018) World Cup, so I was thinking, 'might as well hit the same thing.' I got lucky, I hit it perfectly and finally, it's good to get a goal, it has been a drought, but hopefully after this, things will get rolling," Standish said of his free kick. "I think we played a lot better, in attack we were a lot more dangerous, and the clean sheets need to keep coming."
 
"Seeing all these young kids, I remember when I was a young kid and went to college games, I looked up to the players, they were basically pros, and whenever I saw a pro, I wanted to be like them," Standish said of the crowd of Santa Barbara Soccer Club and Central Coast Academy youth players in attendance. "I hope, especially on the field and when we do camps with all these kids, it's good to build the community with the team. I just want to keep being a role model for them because when I was younger, I wanted a role model to look up to, especially from the local college teams that I watched. I always want to show my appreciation to them because without them, we don't have that community culture."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Saturday night's offensive breakout sent a number of Gauchos rocketing up The Big West stat leaderboards: Fofanah is now one of only two players in the conference with more than one game-winning goal on the season and ranks second with his four goals, Siebenlist and Bjornsson are now tied with three assists apiece and Siebenlist and Fofanah are now tied for second in total points with nine each.
• Not to be forgotten is Beninga, who now has four shutouts in as many starts, though the two saves he had to make on Saturday are a career low. Still, the big man from Wyoming now has more shutouts than all but one other goalkeeper in the conference, and that keeper has played six more games than Beninga.
• And speaking of Big West tables, the Gauchos finish week one of conference play atop The Big West standings on six points, with only Cal State Bakersfield for company.

 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will play the Roadrunners in their next home match, on Oct. 11, but before then they will travel to UC Davis for a rematch of last season's Big West Championship match on Oct. 8. The last time the Gauchos visited the Aggies, they won 2-1 in a match played under the lights at UC Davis Health Stadium. Wednesday's match will also be played under the lights, though at Aggie Soccer Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.