University of California, Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — In front of the largest crowd of the NCAA Men's Soccer season, UC Santa Barbara put on a show, routing Cal Poly behind three first-half goals and a quietly excellent goalkeeping performance from Owen Beninga. To the delight of the 11,183 in attendance at Harder Stadium, Steinar Bjornsson, Zac Siebenlist and Kaden Standish all beat the Mustang keeper with some emphasis to power the 3-1 victory. Saturday night's scoreline secured a series win in the Blue-Green Rivalry for the Gauchos as well, by an aggregate score of 4-3.  
 
QUOTABLE
From head coach Tim Vom Steeg: "It was a great night, for a lot of reasons," Vom Steeg said. It was great. We had about 17, 18 of these guys back from the [2006 National Championship] team. Some of them have not been back to UCSB in the 20 years since they left here. So, it was a great experience for them, it's great to catch up a little bit."
 
"When you're not playing well and you're maybe struggling with some confidence, to play a team like Cal Poly is not a great game for you to regain your confidence, but not surprising, you know, you put a bunch of people in the stands, you turn the lights on and it's Harder Stadium, and some of the magic just came back tonight. I thought the first half was obviously as good as you're going to play in any game."
 
"It was great to be able to have Calle (Mollerberg) back at captain. He's been out obviously with this injury …gave us what he could. So, all those things, it was great to get Zach, Zach scored in (sic) his hometown there. So, it's great that he finally got the goal this year that he's kind of been going after and he buried a great ball. But overall, it was a great performance, and I thought that we did the right things at the right moments. And hopefully, this will propel us a little bit. That's the big hope. We'll take this momentum and, and head back out and get something done."
 
Zac Siebenlist on his goal: "There's been a lot of individual goals this season for our team, and I think that one was not so much individual, and obviously I was on the end of that ball, but I couldn't have done it at all without Steinar getting that ball to me," Siebenlist said. "I'm very thankful that he got that ball there and I ended up on the end of it and finished the ball. And obviously it's a great feeling to score against my hometown. It's been a long time coming, but yeah, it's, it's all smiles after that one."
 
Jack Middleton on playing against Cal Poly: "There's really not a better game to play. It's pretty much that simple," Middleton said. The fans, whether it's away or here, it just gets me going. I love playing in an environment like this, I love performing in an environment like this, and it was good to get an actual real assist on that second one. I've had two pass-to-assists, so I don't know if I really count those, but yeah, that last one came and felt really good and like Zach feels good to get some points on the board finally."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
With revenge on their minds and the crowd at their backs, the Gauchos controlled the first half from start to finish, and though it took 18 minutes to break through, once the door was open there was no way that the Mustangs were going to get it back closed. The opening goal came from basically nothing; Santa Barbara knocked down a clearance in midfield, but then Jack Middleton flicked a pass to Donovan Sessoms, who in turn flicked the ball on ahead for Bjornsson, despite getting levelled by a defender. Bjornsson let the ball settle in his path, then finished through the legs of the keeper with his first touch, putting the Blue and Gold on top in a flash.
 
Five minutes later, Santa Barbara doubled its lead. Siebenlist brought down a long pass, then shielded a defender off for just long enough to poke the ball into the path of an onrushing Bjornsson. The Icelander dribbled out onto the right wing, then crossed the ball into the middle of the penalty area, where Siebenlist had regained his feet and raced to fill the space. The San Luis Obispo native lifted his foot to meet the cross and deflect the ball into the net for his first goal of the season.
 
While the goals will rightfully take the headlines, almost all of Beninga's saves in the game were above average efforts to deny the visitors a route back into the match. His first such sequence came in the 25^th and 28^th minutes, first a stop down to his right, then a tremendous one-on-one effort, racing off his line and using his imposing frame to smother a shot.
 
The Gauchos then effectively iced the game in the 39^th minute with their third goal of the night, comfortably the pick of the bunch in terms of style points. Middleton lifted a pass up over the Mustangs' back line, with Standish timing his run perfectly to stay onside. The senior hit the ball as it was coming back down to earth, striking it on a full volley with his left foot and wheeling away as the net bulged.
 
With the way Santa Barbara was playing, it looked likely to be the winning side even just at the halftime break, but there was a second 45 to be handled, and handling it took a not-insignificant amount of doing. The greatest drama came in the 70^th minute, when first Beninga and then Calle Mollerberg combined for a thrilling double save. Beninga made the first stop, a strong hand to push aside a Mustang shot after a counterattack, then Mollerberg was in the right place at the right time to prevent the follow-up shot from being forced over the goal line at the back post.
 
Frustratingly and somewhat unfairly for Beninga after his excellent showing, the Mustangs did get on the scoresheet in the 85^th minute, only after Beninga made another strong stop to push aside a long-range attempt. However, on this occasion there was no Gaucho to clean up the rebound, which Cal Poly put home. The goal was no more than consolation for the visitors though, as Santa Barbara prevented its rival from even attempting another shot in the final five minutes.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos continue their break from Big West action with a road trip to Spokane, Washington to face Gonzaga on Wednesday, Oct. 14, a venue they have not visited since 2019. Santa Barbara is back to Big West play on Saturday, Oct. 17 but still on the road, visiting Cal State Fullerton. The Gauchos' next home match is on Oct. 21, when they will host a California Baptist team that received votes in the most recent national rankings poll.