SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer program announced their 2025 schedule on Tuesday afternoon, a 21-match slate with 12 at Harder Stadium. All matches will be held on Thursdays and Sundays, with the exception of their opening exhibition match on Saturday, August 9.
As reigning Big West Champions, the Gauchos have a handful of intriguing matchups before the defense of their conference crown begins. The Gauchos play two teams who accompanied them in the 2024 NCAA Tournament—Cal Baptist and Sacramento State—sandwiched around the program's first-ever flight to North Dakota.
Like last season, the Gauchos begin with an exhibition hosting Trinity Western on August 9, the nightcap of a doubleheader at Harder Stadium; the Men's team will play their Blue-Gold intrasquad earlier that day. The exhibition will be free for fans to attend as they get their first look at the 2025 Gauchos.
Officially, the season starts against Loyola Marymount at home on Thursday, August 14. After that, the Gauchos host the 2024 WAC Champions, Cal Baptist on August 21. The Lancers lost 2-1 in double overtime to two-seed UCLA in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament. Santa Barbara will cap off the four-match homestand with University of San Diego for a Sunday afternoon kickoff on August 24.
From there, the Gauchos embark on a fun road trip. Rounding out August with road matches at Fresno State and San Jose State, they then travel to the Peace Garden State, facing North Dakota and North Dakota State on September 4 and 7, respectively. Santa Barbara has never played either program before.
The team will return to the friendly confines of Harder Stadium for a four match homestand. They will get just that, hosting New Mexico on September 11 and Sacramento State on September 14. As it did in 2024, Big West play begins with a matchup against Cal Poly. Fans can anticipate that Harder Stadium will be buzzing on Thursday, September 18 for the Blue-Green Rivalry game, but also because a strong student attendance is expected with the Fall quarter beginning the following week. The Gauchos end the week with their final non-conference match, hosting Weber State on September 21.
Conference play resumes with an important stretch, starting with two on the road at UC Davis and Hawai'i. Last year, the Gauchos lost to Davis 1-0 in the regular season before a 3-2 triumph in double overtime of The Big West Championship semifinal. The Gauchos come back to Santa Barbara playing the two other teams they faced in the Big West Championship—Cal State Bakersfield (October 5) and Cal State Fullerton (October 9). The Gauchos clinched the Big West title over the Roadrunners with a memorable 8-7 penalty shootout.
After a full week off, the team travels to UC Irvine on October 16 and stays south to play Long Beach State on October 19. The last regular season matches at Harder Stadium are set the following week—October 23 and 26—hosting CSUN and UC Riverside. UC Santa Barbara plays their final scheduled match on October 30 at UC San Diego.
The Gauchos aim to play in the Big West Championship, where the opening round promptly begins on Sunday, November 2. With a win there or a top-two regular season finish, they will extend their season to November 6 by earning a berth in the semifinals. Lastly, the conference Final is scheduled for November 9. A potential second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance would take place sometime November 15-17.
UC Santa Barbara Athletics is excited to announce the remainder of their fall sport schedules in the coming weeks, with the Women's Volleyball program revealing their season slate in 48 hours on July 10. The Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo and Men's and Women's Cross Country schedules will be revealed later this month. Season tickets for fall sports will go on sale the week of July 14. Fans can always find the most recent Gaucho news at ucsbgauchos.com.
