NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Zac Siebenlist has played hero for the UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team before. As a freshman, he scored the equalizer with 13 seconds left in the Gauchos' NCAA Tournament match at Stanford, but Saturday night's clutch score may be even more meaningful, as it secured Santa Barbara's 14^th Big West Championship. Siebenlist's 54^th minute goal rescued a 1-1 draw for the Gauchos, who had been down a goal and a man since the 41^st minute, against CSUN, a result which proved enough to give Santa Barbara a share of The Big West Regular Season Championship and the no. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trips to Northridge have long been battles for the Gauchos, and Saturday's visit to Matador Soccer Field was no different. The first opportunity of the game came from a first-minute free kick, the result of one of 24 first-half fouls. Calle Mollerberg got a wide-open header at the back post, but tried to nod it back to a teammate rather than put an attempt on frame, and the opportunity passed.
 
Other than Mollerberg's nod, most of the early action came from the hosting Matadors, as the Gauchos had to weather an early storm. The home team's best chance came in the 12^th minute as a deflection put a CSUN forward in on goal, but Owen Beninga got just enough on the arcing shot to slow it down, and the freshman phenom chased down the loose ball before it could cross the goal line. Almost immediately after that attempt, an injured Matador led to an extended break in the action, and after the stoppage, the Gauchos were able to find more of a foothold.
 
Over the next 15 minutes, the defining theme of the game was, more than anything else, physicality and cards. It perhaps should come as little surprise that two of The Big West's three most-cautioned teams racked up 13 yellow cards on the night, but two of those cautions looked like they were going to make the difference in the game. During a five-minute stretch that saw the referee hand out four yellow cards, Jack Middleton picked up his first caution of the game and, 10 minutes later, he was handed a second for a late tackle just 19 yards from goal. While the Gauchos had dodged the bullet of surrendering a penalty kick, they could not avoid losing a man, as Middleton's second caution came with his marching orders. And then that first bullet came back and hit Santa Barbara anyway, as the Matadors scored the go-ahead goal from the resulting free kick.
 
 
The Gauchos nearly surrendered a second in the final minute of the half, but Beninga made a strong one-on-one stop to keep them within one at halftime. After the break, Santa Barbara came out and looked just as strong as they had been at even strength, if not stronger. They had the better of the opportunities, and Siebenlist cashed in just nine minutes after the game had resumed. It was a flowing team move from one end of the pitch to the other, Drew Kamienski linking up with Dominick Phanco, who moved the ball on to Kaden Standish to dribble at some Matadors. After a couple of step-overs, Standish got hacked down, but he had already released a pass forward to Ramses Martinez, who needed just three touches to turn and play a perfectly timed ball ahead for Siebenlist racing into the penalty area. The sophomore kept his cool to chip the onrushing Matador goalkeeper and level the scores.
 
Even after scoring, the undermanned Gauchos had little trouble keeping with the Matadors. Ethan Senter made a great heads-up play in the 64^th minute to prevent a CSUN forward from running onto a goal kick that had been played over the top of Santa Barbara's defense, and the Gauchos got lucky in the 70^th minute when a Matador shot flew over the crossbar from just six yards out after a rare drop from Beninga, but otherwise they did not have much defending to do until the final 10 minutes of the match.
 
By those final 10 minutes, results elsewhere in the conference had confirmed a draw would be enough for Santa Barbara to finish as regular season champions, and the Gauchos were tucking in to maintain the result. Despite their defensive prowess this season, it was not the simplest of asks, having conceded three goals in the last 10 minutes of matches this season. But on Saturday night, Santa Barbara's back line played to its full potential, allowing the Matadors just two shots at goal, neither of which required saving.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• With the result, the Gauchos completed their first unbeaten conference slate since 2013 and just their third under Coach Tim Vom Steeg.
• Santa Barbara finishes with 17 points in Big West play, tied with UC Irvine and Cal Poly atop the conference table, but the Gauchos earned the no. 1 seed for The Big West Championship due to their combined record against the Anteaters and Mustangs. Santa Barbara's 1-0 win at Cal Poly in October made the difference, giving them a 1-0-1 record against their two foes, leaving UC Irvine second and Cal Poly third.
• The regular season crown is the Gauchos' 14^th Big West Championship and their first since 2021, when they did the double by winning both the regular season and tournament titles.

 
UP NEXT
As the top seed in The Big West Championship, Santa Barbara receives a first-round bye and heads straight to the semifinals, which they will host on Nov. 8 against either UC Davis or Cal State Fullerton.