SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team pressed and pressed and pressed their way to a big win on Thursday night, downing the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Champion North Florida Ospreys, 3-0. Ramses Martinez opened the scoring, Zac Siebenlist found the back of the net for the second time in as many matches and Mateos Carvalho scored his first collegiate goal, while Jacob Blach yet again proved a vital addition to Santa Barbara's back line, anchoring the defense in their first shutout of the season.
 
FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"Whenever you get a chance to beat a team that, like I said, I think is a quality team, it's a good one," head coach Tim Vom Steeg said. "The pressing part happens when everybody knows what's behind them and they're comfortable with the players around them so you trust people … Tonight, I thought the guys trusted each other, they were committed, and when one guy went, the second guy went behind them, and that made all the difference for us."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Vom Steeg's squad was all over the Ospreys early on Thursday night, keeping North Florida penned in their own half for essentially the entire first 20 minutes. Thanks to their aggressive high press, the Gauchos created plenty of opportunities, with Martinez forcing a save inside the first five minutes. Nicolas Willumsen went close in the early stages too. The Dane was on the receiving end of a delightful sequence of one-touch passes at the top of the penalty area, but he thumped his volleyed effort narrowly to the wrong side of the goalpost.
 
With Santa Barbara controlling early possession, North Florida's only threats in the early stages came from counterattacks, but, perhaps too eager to escape the Gauchos' throttling defense, the Ospreys were caught offside three times in six minutes, shutting down any chances for the visitors to steal a goal. They did start to get the ball at their feet a bit more as the clock ticked toward 30 minutes, but right as North Florida started to crack the door open, Martinez and Santa Barbara slammed it back in their faces.
 
With the ball on the left wing in the 34^th minute, Kaden Standish played a pass in behind the defense, which Steinar Bjornsson was all too eager to chase. The Icelander got to the end line and chipped a cross back into the penalty area. Martinez was in the right place, completely un-marked at the penalty spot, and volleyed the ball into the top right corner to put the Gauchos on top.
 
Santa Barbara's press did soften for the rest of the first half, though they still managed to deny North Florida any shots on goal between Martinez opening the scoring and the halftime whistle. In fact, the Gauchos nearly doubled their lead in the 44^th minute, when a cross got past the Ospreys' goalkeeper and Haruki Utsumi was able to direct it goalward. The ball would have gone into the un-guarded net, had it not been blocked by a North Florida defender. The Gauchos would have to settle for a one-goal lead at halftime.
 
Immediately after halftime, Santa Barbara had to weather a 15-minute storm as the play became staccato and physical, which the Ospreys used to create a sequence of chances. The visitors appealed for a penalty kick in the 54^th minute, and the referee went to video review, but he was unmoved and did not award a spot kick.
 
Shortly afterwards, the Gauchos nearly doubled their lead as Siebenlist got on the end of another flowing passing move down the left wing, but his shot fizzed just wide of the post. A minute later, as the clock reached the hour mark, Santa Barbara found themselves both up a goal and up a man. A hard, late challenge resulted in an Osprey defender seeing a red card, swinging the momentum back into the Gauchos' favor. It took 14 minutes for Santa Barbara to capitalize on their numerical advantage, but when they did it was Siebenlist finding himself in the right place at the right time for a second game running.
 
After Drew Kamienski made a great block against North Florida's leading scorer, he was able to get Santa Barbara going on a counterattack. At the other end of it, Thomas Noordegraaf did well to thread a pass between two defenders and find Siebenlist in acres of space in the penalty area, but the sophomore's strike was pushed onto the post. However, the Ospreys failed to clear the ball and it fell right back to Siebenlist, who made the most of his second chance, finding the bottom right corner. That essentially put the game to bed, with North Florida only attempting two more shots between Siebenlist's score and the final whistle, one of which went high and the other of which was easily saved by Luke Skinner in the Gaucho goal.
 
However, Santa Barbara was not done having fun. Willumsen got a wide-open shot 12 yards from goal in the 82^nd minute but was denied by a great save, and Eddie Villeda had a long-range effort blocked in the 85^th. In the 89^th minute, the Gauchos finally punched through again for their third goal. Isaiah Barber made a great tackle to win the ball back 30 yards from goal, popped to his feet and played a pass to split two defenders and find Noordegraaf running through. One-on-one with the goalkeeper, the Dutchman selflessly passed to Carvalho, giving the freshman a simple tap-in for his first collegiate score.
 
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETES
"It's important to finish our chances against teams like North Florida," Martinez said. They're a really good team, they broke our press multiple times, so getting a goal in in the first half is very important, and once we got the goal it gave us momentum, we were able to establish possession and create more chances."
 
"Every time the ball goes out wide, coach wants people back stick, first post and then top of the 18, and I knew the ball was coming," Martinez said of his goal. "I knew, so it's just instinct for goal, I saw it, took the opportunity and I scored."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Martinez's goal was the fourth of his Gaucho career. Three of them, including Thursday night's, have been the game-winning strike. The only one that does not hold that distinction was the go-ahead goal in Santa Barbara's 2021 NCAA Tournament match at UCLA.
• After being held to just eight shots on opening day at Oregon State, the Gauchos have now tallied 15 or more shots in back-to-back matches, registering 17 on Thursday night.
• Along with Carvalho recording his first collegiate goal on Thursday, Bjornsson registered his first collegiate assist and Skinner picked up his first collegiate shutout.

 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will be back at Harder Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30 to host the 63^rd Community Shield match against Westmont. Though the match will be an exhibition and not count towards either side's records, there are bragging rights on the line. The teams played to a 2-2 draw in 2024's edition of the fixture. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets. Fans can also catch all the action from anywhere by watching live on ESPN+ or with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MSOC_Stats.