IRVINE, Calif. — A total of eight UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer student-athletes earned All-Big West honors after leading the Gauchos to the regular-season conference championship in 2025, the conference announced on Tuesday. Santa Barbara's Nordic duo of Calle Mollerberg and Steinar Bjornsson each collected major awards, with Mollerberg named The Big West Defensive Player of the Year alongside his All-Big West First Team selection and Bjornsson headlined the All-Freshman Team as the conference's Freshman of the Year.
 
Zac Siebenlist and Kaden Standish joined Mollerberg on the All-Big West First Team, while Owen Beninga and Eddie Villeda each earned All-Big West Second Team selections. Beninga also joined Bjornsson on the All-Freshman Team, and Drew Kamienski and Buba Fofanah rounded out the Gauchos' award class, earning All-Big West Honorable Mention.
 
Mollerberg is Santa Barbara's 13^th Big West Defensive Player of the Year, joining the likes of Henry Davies, Michael Boxall and Andy Iro. After making the All-Big West Second Team in 2024, he jumped up to the first team in 2025. The Swede anchored a back line that was pivotal to the team's success, one of two Gauchos to start all 18 games this season. With Mollerberg at the heart of the defense, Santa Barbara allowed just three goals across nine Big West matches and kept nine clean sheets on the season, matching their seventh-best defensive record in program history.
 
Standish played pretty much every position on the right side of the Gauchos' line-up this season, spending some time as part of that tremendous back line as a right wing-back, but earned his spot on the All-Big West First Team with his work in the attacking third of the pitch, scoring twice and providing a team-high three assists. Both of his goals came in conference action, one of them a long-range thunderbolt that ended up rescuing a crucial point on the road at UC San Diego after the Gauchos were reduced to 10 men. Had Santa Barbara not gotten that point, they would have ended up as the no. 3 seed for the conference tournament, losing out on their first-round bye.
 
Siebenlist's point-rescuing goal, his fourth of the season, was even more crucial, salvaging a draw for the 10-man Gauchos in the regular-season finale at CSUN, a result which kept Santa Barbara atop the conference table. With three assists to go along with his four goals, Siebenlist finished as the Gauchos' joint-leading point scorer this season to earn his first career all-conference team selection. He helped Santa Barbara get off to a fast start in Big West play as well, setting up the game-winning goal in the conference opener and tallying a goal and assist in the subsequent rout of UC Riverside to secure all six points from the first six available. Fast starts were a theme of Siebenlist's season, as the sophomore forward also helped the Gauchos secure two wins in their first two home matches during non-conference action as well, scoring the game-winner against Central Arkansas and tallying again against North Florida.
 
At the other end of the pitch, Beninga spent most of non-conference action on the bench, but when he got his turn, he made the most of it, kicking off his collegiate career with five consecutive shutouts. By the end of the season, he had seven clean sheets to his name, putting him already halfway to breaking into the program's top 10 list for career shutouts after just 10 matches. As of the end of the regular season, the Wyoming Wall leads all Division-I goalkeepers with a 0.208 goals-against average and 94.3 save percentage. Not just a shot-stopper, the 6-foot-4 Beninga has been dominant in the air, either catching crosses or punching them well away before they can turn into shots on goal. His aerial dominance helped the Gauchos shutout Cal Poly in the Blue-Green Rivalry on his home debut, setting the tone for his season.
 
Perhaps no Gaucho was better at doing what he was asked for the good of the team than Villeda this season; after Santa Barbara's first-choice left back was knocked out for the season in the preseason, the natural attacking midfielder slid back and reprised the role he had filled in 2023. Steady Eddie turned out to be the perfect wingback for the Gauchos, supporting both their defense and attack all season long. He assisted the game-winning goal in the away leg of the Blue-Green Rivalry at Cal Poly and helped keep a clean sheet in that match, one of eight he contributed to this season. Only Mollerberg spent more time on the pitch than Villeda this season, as Villeda's 1382 minutes played ticked his career tally over 4,000 for his career in Blue and Gold.
 
Speaking of minutes, no rookie Gaucho played more than Bjornsson this season, with the Icelander starting 16 of his 18 appearances and spending over 1,100 minutes on the pitch en route to becoming Santa Barbara's 13^th Big West Freshman of the Year. The nearly ever-present piece of the Gaucho attack never shied away from a shot, taking a team-high 41 of them on the season. He was rewarded for his efforts with a first career goal against Sacramento State, which turned out to be the game-winning score. But Bjornsson's game is not just shooting; he is one of four Gauchos with a team-high three assists on the season, including setting up the game-winners against North Florida and UC Riverside.
 
The finisher of that game-winning goal against the Highlanders was Fofanah, who scored a team-high five times despite being hampered by injuries down the stretch in 2025 to earn All-Big West Honorable Mention. Three of those goals came in conference play, with both the aforementioned score against UCR and his tally at Cal State Fullerton being the decisive marks. His goal against Cal State Bakersfield also helped the Gauchos earn a crucial point in what was a top-of-the-table clash at the time. With an assist to go along with his five goals, the Cate School and Santa Barbara Soccer Club alumnus Fofanah finished alongside Siebenlist as the Gauchos' top points scorer and fifth in The Big West.
 
As Mollerberg's center-back partner, Kamienski was once again quietly excellent in the back line, playing in all nine of Santa Barbara's clean sheets to earn All-Big West Honorable Mention, his first career all-conference recognition. The 6-foot-3 junior's composure made him such a dependable last man back that his defensive partners, especially Mollerberg, could comfortably maraud forward to support the Gauchos' build-up and attack. But Kamienski showed his ability to make forays into the attack as well this season, registering his second career assist with the pass that started the move which resulted in Santa Barbara's opening goal of the season against Central Arkansas.
 
The Gauchos finished as The Big West Regular Season Champions in 2025, earning the no. 1 seed for the conference tournament and with it a first-round bye. Santa Barbara will host The Big West Semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Harder Stadium, facing either No. 4 seed Cal State Fullerton or No. 5 seed UC Davis.