PHOENIX, Ariz. — The No. 23 UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team concludes its first road stretch of the season on Saturday, heading to the desert to play Grand Canyon in Phoenix. Fresh off their first-ever win in the state of New Jersey, the Gauchos now look to earn their first win in Arizona and go on their first winning streak of the season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara went 1-1 on the East Coast swing that was their first road trip of the season, suffering a late defeat at then-No. 20 Cornell before Kaden Standish's long-range goal gave them a happy flight home with a 1-0 win at Rutgers on Monday night. Goalkeeper Owen Beninga and veteran defender Drew Kamienski both made crucial interventions to maintain the clean sheet against the Scarlet Knights, Beninga making two big saves and Kamienski a third, clearing a shot off the goal line.
 
Just an hour before kickoff at Rutgers, Steinar Bjornsson collected Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors, in part for his goal at Cornell. The Icelander scored a long-range equalizer in the second half against the Big Red, his second second-half equalizer against top-20 opposition last week, having also scored to earn the Gauchos their draw with then-No. 2 San Diego. Bjornsson was involved in the scoring again on Monday night, assisting Standish's winner. The sophomore now has two goals and two assists, making him the team's joint-leader in both categories. Standish stands level with him on goals, while Peleg Brown is the one matching him in assists.
 
SCOUTING THE LOPES
Grand Canyon is 2-3 so far in its first season under new head coach Jamie Davies, following up a 7-2 thumping of Oakland on Thursday with a 1-0 defeat at home to Houston Christian on Monday. That loss was the second time in three games that the Lopes have been shut out on their home field, with the other a 2-0 defeat to UC Riverside.
 
GCU started the season ranked No. 21 in the country after a 14-win campaign saw them reach the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2025, and they hung around with now-No. 1 Stanford in the season opener, out-shooting the Cardinal but losing, 2-1. In fact, the Lopes have out-shot their opponents in all five matches, including by a margin of 20 in Monday night's defeat. Freshman forward Alhassan Alhassan and senior midfielder Jorge Lopez have led the shooting onslaught so far, Alhassan's 16 shots leading the team and Lopez's 14 not far behind. Each man also has one goal and one assist on the season; freshmen Arnau Camaño and João Gonçalinho lead the team in those categories (respectively), each with two. Both of Camaño's goals came in the rout of the Golden Grizzlies, and while Gonçalinho got one assist in that match, he also set up the lone, game-winning goal at Sacramento State earlier in the season.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Phoenix time on Saturday, which is 7 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The game from GCU Stadium will be streamed live online at watch.themw.com and live stats will be available through ucsbgauchos.com.