SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer program announced their 2026 schedule on Wednesday, June 24. The Gauchos will play 24 games, with 11 of them taking place at Harder Stadium. Their season opens on Saturday, August 8, with an exhibition match.

Season tickets to secure a seat at all 11 home matches are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.

Coming off a year in which UC Santa Barbara made it to their second consecutive Big West Championship and earned 13 wins, tied for the fourth most in a single season, the Gauchos look to keep that momentum going into 2026.

For the third season in a row, the Gauchos will begin with an exhibition match hosting Trinity Western on Saturday, Aug 8. The season will officially kick off with the Gauchos playing their first three games at home. First, they host LMU on Wednesday, Aug. 12. Following that, they welcome San Jose State on Thursday, Aug. 20, and Fresno State on Sunday, Aug. 23.

Following that, the Gauchos hit the road for their next two games as they head to Riverside to take on Cal Baptist on Thursday, Aug. 27, before heading north to UC Davis on Sunday, Aug. 30.

The Blue and Gold return home to host North Dakota on Thursday, Sept. 12, and North Dakota State on Sunday, Sept. 6. After visiting the Garden State a season ago, the Fighting Hawks and Bison will come to the Golden State.

Following their homestand to begin September, the Gauchos will travel to Idaho State and Weber State on Thursday, Sept. 10, and Sunday, Sept. 13, respectively. These will be the final two games before the Gauchos go into their bye week.

Santa Barbara comes out of their bye week hosting Long Beach State and Sacramento State to begin the thick of their conference schedule. The Gauchos will host the Beach on Wednesday, Sept. 23 and the Hornets on Saturday, Sept. 26. 

Following the two-game weekend at Harder Stadium, the Gauchos hit the road for their next three games. The team will begin the road stretch at Cal State Bakersfield to close out September on Sept. 30 before heading back to Riverside to take on Cal Baptist for the second time this season on Saturday, Oct. 3. The Gauchos round out the road stretch at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Oct. 10.

UC Santa Barbara will then have three of their next four games in the friendly confines of Harder Stadium. The Blue and Gold welcome UC Irvine on Wednesday, Oct. 14 and UC San Diego on Saturday, Oct. 17. The Gauchos will head up to Cal Poly on Wednesday, Oct. 21, before returning home on Saturday, Oct. 24, for their final home game of the regular season against new conference foe Utah Valley.

The Gauchos will end the regular season on the road as they head to CSUN on Wednesday, Oct. 28 and have their regular season finale on Saturday, Oct. 31, at UC Riverside.

The team will be aiming to once again play for a Big West Championship. The opening round of The Big West Championships will be Wednesday, Nov. 4. Should the Gauchos continue to advance in the bracket, the semifinal round will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7 and the Championship match will be a week later on Nov. 14.

UC Santa Barbara Athletics is excited to announce the remainder of their fall sport schedules in the coming weeks.