SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team enters the final game of the regular season still in control of its postseason destiny. All the Gauchos need for a ticket to The Big West Championship is a result against CSUN on Halloween night, which is also their Senior Night.
 
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT
UC Santa Barbara will honor five graduating student-athletes prior to Saturday night's game: Ethan Senter, Donovan Sessoms, Drew Kamienski, Kaden Standish and Calle Mollerberg. Between them, the quintet has played 221 games in Blue and Gold, tallied 35 goals and assists and collected eight All-Big West awards. The Senior Night ceremony will begin at approximately 6:50 p.m. on Saturday night.  
 
TICKETS
Tickets for Saturday night's match are available at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets. UC Santa Barbara students get into Saturday's game and all Gaucho home games for free with their valid UCSB ID card.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara is looking for a reset after suffering consecutive defeats for the first time since September, most recently a highly fraught outing against California Baptist on Tuesday night. Almost all of the four goals they gave up to the Lancers can be chalked up to defensive miscues, but those can be eliminated with a renewed focus and a bit better luck. The other puzzle that needs solving is in attack, where Santa Barbara has not found the back of the net from open play in 246 game minutes after scoring seven goals over the preceding 204 game minutes. Steinar Bjornsson, Kaden Standish and Jack Middleton were in fine form during the Gauchos' wins over Cal Poly, Gonzaga and Cal State Fullerton, sharing six goals and six assists between the three of them over that span. Bjornsson did get to see the net bulge again on Tuesday night, converting a penalty kick for his ninth goal of the season and 10^th of his career.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Despite their recent downturn in form, the Gauchos still need just one point — a tie will do — to clinch their spot in The Big West Championship without any outside help. Even in a loss, for Santa Barbara to miss the postseason would require Cal State Bakersfield to tie with or beat Utah Valley and Sacramento State to beat Cal State Fullerton. In that scenario, the combined margin of the Gauchos' loss and Hornets' win would have to add up to three goals in Sacramento State's favor (with goals against the Gauchos benefiting the Hornets).
 
The more volatile question is whether Santa Barbara will finish as the no. 3 or no. 4 seed and whether they will therefore travel to Utah Valley or UC Irvine for a Big West Semifinal. With a win, the Gauchos are guaranteed the no. 3 seed; Utah Valley enters the weekend in second place in the standings and therefore Santa Barbara's hypothetical semifinal opponent but would have to lose in Bakersfield to stay there. If the Roadrunners do beat the Wolverines and the Gauchos only get a draw with CSUN, only then would Santa Barbara fall to the no. 4 seed. And in that scenario, UC Irvine would be the no. 1 seed and the Gauchos' semifinal opponent. The only combination of results that would send Santa Barbara to Utah Valley for the semifinals is a Gaucho win and a Bakersfield win.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CSUN also remains in the hunt for one of the final two Big West Championship berths despite a home drubbing at the hands of Sacramento State last Saturday. Jorge Solorzano put the Matadors in front with a first-half penalty kick, but then CSUN allowed five Hornet goals, all in the second half. The Matadors will need to win on Saturday night and see Utah Valley win and Fullerton at least get a tie in the other matches to have a chance of sneaking into the field.
 
Solorzano's penalty kick last weekend was his fourth goal of the season, the third to come from the penalty spot. He ranks second in scoring for the Matadors while leading the team in assists, with six. Fellow midfielder Francisco Garibay has a similar statistical profile, with two goals and four assists. At the point of attack, six-foot-four forward Kayvon Monfared has done much of the finishing, with a team-high eight goals on the year.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. from Harder Stadium, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can also follow along with live stats and play-by-play updates at ucsbgauchos.com/MSOC_Stats.