KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The United Soccer Coaches announced the final group of its Players to Watch List on Monday, naming the top men's and women's forwards in college soccer for the 2026 campaign. First-year Gaucho but longtime Big West standout Donovan Sessoms is among the 21 men listed after his exploits at Sacramento State.
 
As a Hornet, Sessoms earned All-Far West Region honors from USC and an All-Big West Second Team selection in 2025 after scoring a pair of goals and assisting three more, making himself involved in 38% of all of Sacramento State's scores in the season. He was even more lethal in 2024, scoring 10 goals and earning All-Big West First Team honors. Three of those 10 tallies in 2024 came against the Gauchos. Sessoms was also drafted by San Diego FC — the same club that made Manu Duah the first UC Santa Barbara student-athlete to be drafted first overall — in that year's Major League Soccer SuperDraft but elected to remain in college.
 
Sessoms is now the third Gaucho to be named to the USC Players to Watch List for 2026, joining goalkeeper Owen Beninga and defender Calle Mollerberg. Since USC began making preseason watch lists in 2022, this is the first year that Santa Barbara has had multiple selections.
 
Sessoms, Mollerberg, Beninga and the Gauchos will host a preseason friendly against LMU at Harder Stadium on Aug. 14 before opening the season in earnest by hosting San Jose State on Aug. 21. Season and single-game tickets are available now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.