SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team opens its 2026 season tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 12, against LMU. This will be the fourth consecutive season the Gauchos open with the Lions. Paul Stumpf enters his 28^th season at the helm of the program and is looking to guide the Gauchos to their third straight Championship match appearance and reclaim The Big West title.
 
TICKETS
Season and single-game tickets are on sale for UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer.  The program will be hosting 11 teams at Harder Stadium, including five Big West Conference matchups. Last season, the Gaucho women went 13-5-5 and made their second consecutive championship final while finishing with the fourth most wins in a single season. This season, fans will be able to watch them fight their way to The Big West Championship starting at $99 at general admission seating. 
 
JUNIOR GAUCHOS
Junior Gauchos is an exclusive membership-only club for kids 12 and younger designed to connect youth to the college experience at an early age through UC Santa Barbara game day and exclusive experiences. The club provides opportunities for the youth to become a Gaucho fan at a young age while making the connection to UC Santa Barbara student-athletes as role models.
 
PROMOTIONS
The Gaucho women have fun for everyone all season long. There will be promotions, giveaways and much more throughout the season. Be sure to check out ucsbgauchos.com/WSOC_Themes for all the gameday information.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Lions welcome five impact transfers and seven first-year student-athletes while returning 18 from the 2025 squad. The 18 returners account for nearly two-thirds of the total minutes played last season.
 
The incoming freshmen include a goalkeeper, two defenders, three midfielders and a forward. Four of the freshmen hail from California, while the other three come from overseas, including Norway and Italy.
 
LMU returns 18 players from the 2025 team that went 5-7-5 overall and 2-5-4 in the WCC. Those 18 players account for nearly two-thirds of all minutes last season. Those 18 student-athletes include goalkeeper JJ Hoover, who was named Honorable Mention All-WCC last season. Emma Gustad Myklebust also returns. The redshirt junior scored three goals and recorded one assist last season.
 
The Lions have won the last two matchups against the Gauchos and last lost to the Blue and Gold in the season opener of 2023.
 
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
The Gauchos return 25 of their 33 rostered players on the 2026 roster. They bring in eight newcomers, including two transfers and six freshmen.  Of the six freshmen, four are defenders, along with one midfielder and one attacker. For the transfers, Head Coach Paul Stumpf brought in one attacker and one goalkeeper.
Six returners played 1,000 or more minutes a season ago, including Emily Caughey, Maddie Buckley, Mya Delaney, Olivia Howard, Caitlyn Simons and Isabella Ong. Additionally, UC Santa Barbara returns four of their top five point-getters a season ago in Howard, Hayden Halscheid, Simons and Delaney. In total, the 25 returners account for 67.3 percent of all minutes played a season ago, along with 70 percent of the goals scored.
 
Headlining the returners are 2026 Preseason All-Big West selection Emily Caughey, 2025 First Team All-Big West selections Olivia Howard and Mya Delaney, along with Honorable Mention All-Big West selection Maddie Buckley and All-Freshman selection Reese Wroblewski. After missing last season due to injury, 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year Devin Greer returns as well.
 
The two Gaucho transfers come to UC Santa Barbara from Oregon and conference foe Cal State Bakersfield. Goalkeeper Brynn Korpela becomes a Gaucho after a pit stop at Oregon. The junior was also at San Diego State prior to her stop at Oregon. Forward Delilah Vega-Aguilar spent her freshman season at Cal State Bakersfield, where she appeared in 19 games, made two starts, while tallying 697 minutes of action.
 
As for the six freshmen, five hail from California, while one comes to Santa Barbara from the Beaver State, Oregon. With the departures of some key pieces at midfield and the backline, the freshmen are poised to make an impact right away.
 
THE SCHEDULE
The Gauchos' non-conference schedule consists of matches against a WCC opponent (LMU), three Mountain West foes (San Jose State, Fresno State and UC Davis), two Summit League opponents (North Dakota and North Dakota State) and two Big Sky opponents (Idaho State and Weber State). In the mix of all that, they will also play a non-conference match against new Big West member California Baptist. Following non-conference play, the Gauchos will play each Big West team once before the Big West Championships begin.'
 
FOLLOW ALONG
UC Santa Barbara's match against LMU on Wednesday, Aug. 12 will kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara. The match will be streamed on ESPN+, with live stats also available through ucsbgauchos.com/WSOCLiveStats.