SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Friday night's Big West Men's Soccer Championship was an ugly, physical contest played on an ever-more-waterlogged pitch, turned frustratingly staccato by injuries, bookings and other extracurricular activities and eventually ending with a 2-1 scoreline favoring the visiting No. 2 seed UC Irvine Anteaters. The result was in spite of heroics from UC Santa Barbara's Buba Fofanah and Owen Beninga, who scored the Gauchos' lone goal and made a career-high seven saves respectively. It was also in spite of the dogged Kaden Standish and Thomas Noordegraaf, both of whom soldiered on after spending time on the swamped pitch with significant injuries. Beninga and Standish were both named to The Big West Championship All-Tournament Team following the match, as was Steinar Bjornsson.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
There was no waiting for the physicality to take hold, as the Anteaters were whistled for two fouls inside the first five minutes, but there was no wait for the wet weather to make its impact felt either, as the first chance of the game came after a slip in the Gauchos' attacking third allowed UC Irvine to break the other way. Beninga made the first save of the night to deny it.
 
The first booking of the match came Santa Barbara's way in the 23^rd minute, with the Anteaters missing a 25-yard shot from the following free kick. Four minute later, they got another chance close in and did not miss. It was the first major drama of the evening, as Drew Kamienski was initially shown a straight red card for a foul right at the top of the penalty area. However, a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review overturned it to just a yellow card. However, the Gauchos did not escape punishment, as UC Irvine scored from the resulting free kick to take the lead.
 
At halftime, UC Santa Barbara Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg said his team had been "out-worked" in the first half, an evaluation supported by the fact that they managed only three shots in the first 45 minutes, none of which required saving and only one of which required any intervention at all.
 
Ironically, less than a minute after the television broadcast finished airing Vom Steeg's halftime interview, the Gauchos were beaten to a ball in their own penalty area and the Anteaters' lead increased to 2-0.
 
It was apparently the wake-up call Santa Barbara needed, as 12 of their 15 shots on the evening came after the Anteaters' second goal, as early as Fofanah's missed attempt not even a minute later. Fofanah nearly set up a goal on the hour mark, as his low cross nearly found Zac Siebenlist's run towards the near post, but the Gauchos were able to recycle the ball and find Siebenlist again, with his header going wide.
 
While Santa Barbara was on the warpath, they were vulnerable to counterattacks, and Beninga was called into action to shut one down (not for the last time) in the 65^th minute, making a one-on-one save in which he smothered the shot under his backside. Not even 60 second later, the Gauchos were within a goal. Fofanah got the ball on the right flank, cut inside and saw his initial shot blocked but was able to hammer home the rebound for his 24^th career NCAA goal, the sixth as a Gaucho.
 
All of the sudden, Santa Barbara had gone from out of it to banging down the door in search of an equalizer. Fofanah forced a strong save in the 67^th minute and, off the resulting corner, Noordegraaf forced a world-class stop from UC Irvine's 6-foot-7 goalkeeper, a diving palm which required every inch of that lanky frame to swat away.
 
At the other end of the pitch, Beninga had one of his finest moments with a sequence of saves in the 74^th and 75^th minutes. The action was going from end-to-end at this point, with Noordegraaf the next to force a save in the 79^th. He turned and shot despite having been down on the ground minutes prior with irritation to his already taped right knee. Immediately afterwards, Standish returned to the pitch with a bandage wrapped around his head; he had been forced off with a cut to his forehead earlier in the half. But still, he fought on in pursuit of an equalizer.
 
The fight became that much more difficult in the 82^nd minute when Kamienski was issued his marching orders for good, receiving a second yellow card after persuasion from a UC Irvine player. The numerical disadvantage only made the Gauchos' defensive position shakier, with Beninga again making two unbelievable saves in the 86^th minute when an Anteater was so wide open behind the defense that he appeared offside. The flag stayed down, but Beninga stopped both the initial shot and the follow-up chance from his rebound.
 
Two minutes later, the Gauchos got what would end up being their final chance of the evening. Siebenlist, a man with a penchant for late heroics, got his head on a cross, but faced with a tough angle and a defender on his back, was unable to direct it on goal.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• The defeat ends UC Santa Barbara's unbeaten streak at 13 games, the longest under Vom Steeg and the second-longest in program history.
• Friday made it five straight years that the Gauchos and Anteaters have met in a Big West Championship match; for each of the last four, the scoreline has been 2-1.
• With Friday night's defeat effectively ending UC Santa Barbara's 2025 season, the Gauchos will eventually be able to reflect on some of the milestones set this year. Their nine shutouts are tied for the seventh-most in one season in program history, their aforementioned unbeaten streak ranks second, and they achieved just their third unbeaten Big West campaign. Individually, Owen Beninga's 0.52 goals-against average is a program record, beating out Dan Kennedy's 0.55 GAA from 2004, though Kennedy played 23 matches to Beninga's 12.