CORVALLIS, Ore. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team officially gets its 2025 season underway on Thursday, Aug. 21, at Oregon State, their first of six matches against 2024 NCAA Tournament participants on the schedule. Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg enters his 27^th year leading his alma mater, with a new tactical approach.

"We have all these players that function well inside," Vom Steeg said. "I didn't wake up one day and say I'm going to go play a new system. I looked at my players and I said, what gives me the best chance to give as many players an opportunity to get on the field?"
 
Instead of the 4-3-3 formation the Gauchos deployed to great effect in 2024, this year's squad will line up in a 4-2-2-2 look, with two defensive midfielders ahead of the four defenders and two attacking midfielders playing underneath (and in support of) the two strikers.
 
FORWARDS
Starting at the top, the Gauchos' striker corps consists of three returners: Isaiah Barber, Zac Siebenlist and Nicolas Willumsen and three newcomers: Mateos Carvalho, Buba Fofanah and Owen Wall. While the imposing Willumsen is the ideal target forward, capable of holding up play and finishing moves in the middle, the other five have one thing in common: speed.
 
"One of the big recruiting pieces for us emphasis was adding speed," Vom Steeg said. Zach is fast and athletic. Isaiah is fast and athletic. Buba is fast and athletic. Then you add a player like Mateos who is fast and athletic. Owen Wall is probably the second fastest player on the team, if not the fastest."
 
In the new system, those speedsters will have the freedom to run into wide areas and generally be a nuisance for opposing defenses. Fofanah did exactly that in the Blue/Gold Scrimmage, scoring the two goals that carried his Blue squad to a victory in the exhibition. Against San Diego State, it was Willumsen demonstrating the other way the Gauchos will look to score, getting on the end of a cross and firing home. The Gauchos plan to use his physical stature and strength to balance the pace of their other forwards.
 
ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS
The man who put in the cross for Willumsen's equalizer against the Aztecs was one of the many attacking midfielders at Vom Steeg's disposal this season, the veteran Eddie Villeda. Villeda is one of three returning players in the "number 10" position — midfielders who spend more time attacking than defending and whose main task is creating chances for the Gauchos to score. Also returning in that role are Ocean Salari and 2024 team assist leader Kaden Standish, both of whom love to dribble at defenders one-on-one. Joining those three in the attacking midfield are newcomers Steinar Björnsson and Thomas Noordegraaf, giving Vom Steeg plenty of quality to rotate through. Freshman Chris Oginni, naturally a traditional winger, could contribute as a number 10 as well, or join the strikers further forward in the mold of Fofanah.
 
"The San Diego State game was a perfect example," Vom Steeg said. "We started with Eddie and Kaden and Buba and Nicolas and 20 minutes in and we weren't very effective, but then all of a sudden, I brought in four new players. I brought in Steiner, I brought in Thomas, I brought in Zach, I brought in Isaiah and just the way the game was being played, it was physical. It was strong. Those four, it was better suited for them. And then I came back with that other group in the second half when we get more control of the game. It was very good. We did very well that night, especially given where we are. The system is flexible enough that I can move some things around, and now the key is for us to just get comfortable with it and trust it and stay with it and keep doing repetitions."
 
Along with setting up Willumsen's late goal at San Diego State, Villeda assisted the first of Fofanah's two goals in the Blue/Gold Scrimmage to finish as the top assister in preseason. Standish was on the scoreboard in the Blue/Gold Scrimmage too, providing the finishing touch instead of setting it up.
 
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS
Further back, in the defensive midfield, Vom Steeg has decided that rather than trying to replace the first overall pick in last year's Major League Soccer SuperDraft, the Gauchos will re-create Manu Duah in the aggregate. Step one of that process was to add a second "number six," a defensive midfielder to start attacks while also adding protection in front of the back line, to the formation. The second step was to go out and get talented players to fill those spots. Santa Barbara already had a trio in returners Ramses Martinez, Ethan Senter and Dominick Phanco then added a fourth and fifth in the spring in the shape of rookies Jack Middleton and Jacob Medina. Over the summer, junior college transfers Justin Gomes and Mika Ney came aboard to round out the committee of sixes.
 
"Ethan got good minutes towards the end of last year. Ramses came back from the injury and he's a really good player with a lot of experience," Vom Steeg said. "Justin was a huge pickup for us because we think he's a legitimate big-time player … Jack was a good pickup coming out of spring last year. There's a collection of players there, and now we just have to kind of rotate through and see what is our best combination."
 
DEFENDERS
If there is one place where Vom Steeg and the Gauchos do not need to wonder what their best combination is, it is the back line, where all but one of Santa Barbara's key pieces from last season return. Drew Kamienski and All-Big West Second Teamer Calle Mollerberg are both back to anchor the center of the defense, with Mollerberg earning preseason acclaim as well. The Swede was named to The Big West Preseason Team and the United Soccer Coaches Defenders to Watch List. Next to him, at left back, the Gauchos have 2024 Big West All-Freshman Team honoree Peleg Brown, and on the right, they will look to start the season with Haruki Utsumi, who is coming off a tremendous performance in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
 
"We have considered and we'll start with a look where we play Haruki as a right back because for us, he's as good as it gets," Vom Steeg said "We have to find creative ways to get him on the field with Andrew and Calle."
 
On top of that returning core, the Gauchos have a host of talented newcomers to add depth and extra options. Jacob Blach is a natural center back but played minutes at right back in the Blue/Gold Scrimmage, and Cole Harris is a center back prospect Vom Steeg is looking to develop for the future. Out wide, Kevin Brown adds an extra option in the fullback positions, as do redshirt freshman Colby Renton and the versatile Keaton Fargo.
 
"We had already planned on adding an extra center back, so it was going to be Jacob, our next center back," Vom Steeg said. "We also brought in Cole as a young understudy … Colby has had a good training camp. We brought in Kevin Brown to help us in the wide areas. Once again, we feel like we've added some players that can help us in those spots so that if a player gets hurt, we're in a good position to not have to change everything."
 
GOALKEEPER
Last but certainly not least, the Gauchos' goalkeeper situation looks similar to this time last year, with three players lacking any real collegiate game experience but each with plenty of talent. The difference this time is that two are freshmen, with plenty of time to develop into star netminders. Vom Steeg is particularly high on New England Revolution Academy product Owen Beninga, and thanks to the changes to NCAA roster limits and scholarship restrictions, he was able to add an experienced option alongside the promising rookie, in Luke Skinner.
 
"We identified Owen at least two to three years ago as a goalie that we felt is the future of the program," Vom Steeg said. "We were able to bring in Luke as a one-year player, a graduate transfer, and they're opposite of each other. Owen is long and a really good shot stopper, but he doesn't have the same game experience that Luke has. Luke is 22, 23 years old, he's played a men's soccer for 100-plus games. When we start the season, we're probably leaning towards experience."
 
As if that was not a comfortable enough position to be in, Vom Steeg has another freshman keeper on the roster in Dylan Hotaling. The son of UC Davis Associate Head Coach and goalkeeper tutor Jason Hotaling, he will also have the opportunity to develop his skills and compete for the starting job.
 
"Our future is very bright at the keeper position," Vom Steeg said. "We have two young goalies and an experienced goalie that has played a lot of games and is comfortable to step into Division I."
 
THE OUTLOOK
The Gauchos face a stacked non-conference slate, headlined by visits to preseason No. 10 San Diego and preseason No. 2 Marshall as they prepare to challenge for another Big West Championship. With 16 new faces on the team, Vom Steeg and his staff believe they have the players they need, the challenge will be for those players to click. And, while they smooth out the learning curve, for someone to step up and provide match-winning moments.
 
"Maybe it's Nico, maybe it's Zach, obviously we've got Buba who has high expectations," Vom Steeg said. "We need those guys to get us going a little bit, do some individual things that help us win while we sort out our relationships, while we keep working with a new goalie and putting the ball in, playing with each other, and then ultimately when the two come together, I think we've got everything you might want."
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos kick off their season at 7 p.m. on Thursday from Paul Lorenz Field in Corvallis. Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MSOC_Stats. Santa Barbara will play its first match at Harder Stadium on Monday, Aug. 25, hosting Central Arkansas.