ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 21 UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team heads east for Labor Day Weekend, taking on two East Coast institutions clad in red. First up, the 20^th-ranked Big Red of Cornell on Friday night, then a Monday night matchup with the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers in New Jersey.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos returned to the national top 25 this week after a pair of positive results over top-15 opponents at home. Donovan Sessoms' first competitive goal for Santa Barbara netted them a 1-1 draw with then-No. 12 Marshall last Thursday night, and Steinar Bjornsson's late equalizer secured the same result over then-No. 2 San Diego on Monday. Over the two games, the Gauchos out-shot their opponents 46-20 and only conceded from penalty kicks. On both spot kicks, goalkeeper Owen Beninga guessed and dove the correct direction, the shots were just too good for any goalkeeper.
 
As they hit the road for the first time this season, Santa Barbara looks to polish the rough edges they identified in their first three games at home, mainly improving their finishing touch. The Gauchos enter the weekend ranked fifth nationally in shots per game, averaging 21.33 attempts per match, but just 88^th in goals per game and 173^rd in shot accuracy, with 32.8 percent of their attempts ending up on target. Of the three Gauchos who rank among the top 50 college soccer players in shots per game — Bjornsson, Sessoms and Peleg Brown — the defender Brown is the most accurate, with 50 percent of his 3.33 shots per game troubling the opposing goalkeeper. Only two student-athletes in the entire country fire more frequently than Bjornsson; the Icelander averages 5.33 shots per game.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 20 Cornell played its first match of the season over the weekend, defeating Marist by a 3-0 scoreline on the road on Saturday. South Carolina transfer Filip Verseterre was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week as he kept his first clean sheet for the Big Red, while three different Cornell players found the back of the net against the Red Foxes.
 
The Big Red are 3-0 all-time against the Gauchos, with a 1-0 win in last year's meeting at Harder Stadium and a 4-3 double-overtime victory the last time Santa Barbara came to Ithaca. Cornell is also one win away from 600 in its program history, and head coach John Smith one away from tying the program record for wins as manager. If revenge or schadenfreude is not enough motivation, the Gauchos are still in search of a first ranked win since Sept. 4, 2021.
 
Rutgers enters the weekend with one win, one draw and one loss on its resume, with senior forward Andrew Kitch's two goals and one assist earning head coach Jim McElderry's 50^th Rutgers win against Sacred Heart last Friday. Before they host the Gauchos, the Scarlet Knights will host a Garden State Classic against rivals Seton Hall on Friday night.
 
Monday night will be Santa Barbara's first visit to Piscataway since 2008 and just the third all-time meeting between the Gauchos and Scarlet Knights. Each team has won once and only on home soil. It was 3-2 when Santa Barbara visited in 2008 and 4-0 to the Gauchos at Harder Stadium in 2009. All told, the Gauchos are 2-1 against the Garden State, with a 2004 win over Seton Hall also on their resume.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Both of this weekend's matches will kick off at 4 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (7 p.m. Eastern) and both will have live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com. Friday night's match from Berman Field in Ithaca will be streamed live on ESPN+ and Monday night's contest at Yurcak Field in Piscataway will be streamed on Big Ten+.