DAVIS, Calif. — Owen Beninga remains perfect. The freshman goalkeeper kept his fifth clean sheet in as many starts on Wednesday night as the UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team brought a point home from Davis. Beninga needed just two saves to blank the Aggies, while the Gauchos forced six out of UC Davis goalkeeper Noah Schwengeler in the 0-0 draw.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Beninga's best save of the night came only a minute into the match, the rookie reaching up to tip a long-range shot over the bar. The Aggies went on to enjoy the majority of the possession through the first 15 minutes of the night's action, though they only managed one other shot during that span; it was blocked by the Santa Barbara defense.
 
Having weathered the early storm, the Gauchos made their way into the match, evening the flow of play by the 30-minute mark. Santa Barbara's two best chances also came in that time frame, back-to-back efforts from Buba Fofanah and Steinar Bjornsson, both requiring saves. Fofanah latched on to a bad back-pass in the 21^st minute but was denied one-on-one. A minute later, Zac Siebenlist found Bjornsson at the back post with a cross, but the Icelander's shot was right at the Aggie goalkeeper.
 
The action then mellowed out for the remainder of the first half, the only exception coming in the 38^th minute. UC Davis was awarded an indirect free kick just six yards from goal when a ball deflected back to Beninga was ruled to be a deliberate pass back to him, meaning it was a violation of the rules when he picked it up. However, because the according punishment was an indirect free kick, Davis could not shoot directly at goal without passing to a teammate first, and the Gauchos could stack all of their players on the goal line to make the most predictable shot in the world also one of the more difficult ones. As soon as the ball was put in play, Beninga raced off his line and the initial shot was blocked by a defender, while the Gauchos' rookie netminder saved the follow-up attempt.
 
Santa Barbara did get one more scoring chance of their own before halftime, Isaiah Barber nodding a header toward the back post, but he was not able to get enough power on it to trouble Schwengeler.
 
The parity continued after halftime; if the Gauchos were the better team in the first 15 minutes after the break, it was only barely, though they did get the best scoring chance in that time. After a good sequence of passes, Bjornsson got the ball at the top of the penalty area and bent a shot toward the far bottom corner, but he just did not bend it enough to get around Schwengeler's outstretched arm. That was the only save from either team until the 75^th minute, both sides' attacks slowed.
 
Santa Barbara spent more time soaking up pressure as the second half went on, trying to find moments to hit the Aggies with a counterattack. The best of those opportunities ended at the feet of Kaden Standish, who joined his teammates on the list of Gauchos denied by Schwengeler at close range.
 
Standish's opportunity did mark a turning point, as the Gauchos started to ask more questions of the Davis defense and their goalkeeper in the final 10 minutes of the match. Siebenlist was credited as forcing a save in the 86^th minute, fizzing a ball across the face of goal, but it ended up not far enough in either direction to be an effective cross or a truly dangerous shot.
 
With the Aggies also pushing numbers forward in the final minutes, the Gauchos decided to park the bus and defend with everything they had for the final 150 seconds of action to secure the point. As Davis got one last opportunity for their favorite set piece, a long throw in into the penalty area, Beninga made sure it would come to nothing. Reminding everyone just how good he is in the air, the freshman snagged the throw before it could find an Aggie head, sealing the result.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• With the tie, the Gauchos are now unbeaten in six straight matches and remain atop The Big West with seven points.
• Beninga's clean sheet streak is now at five, which gives him sole possession of second place on The Big West shutout leaderboard.
• Not only were there no goal on Wednesday night, but there were also no cards issued to either team, the second time that has happened in a UC Santa Barbara match this season. The first was at UNLV on Sept. 18.
• While a win would have been preferrable, the Gauchos will be happy to come away with a draw from one of the tougher venues to visit in The Big West. The trip to Davis is the Gauchos' longest conference road trip of the season and their longest bus trip of the year, a 382-mile drive.

 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will make that long journey home and start preparing for a top-of-the-table clash with Cal State Bakersfield at Harder Stadium. The Roadrunners also drew on Wednesday, so the two teams enter Saturday's meeting level on points as Big West co-leaders. Kickoff from Harder Stadium is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, and tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets. UC Santa Barbara students get in for free with a valid student ID, and fans can catch all the action from anywhere by watching live on ESPN+.