SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — If anyone knows the going rate for buying a goal, the UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team may be ready to inquire. The Gauchos took 23 shots — 10 of them on target — against Sacramento State on Wednesday night but scored only once, from a first-half penalty kick. One defensive error in the second half then meant that Santa Barbara's Big West opener ended in a 1-1 draw. Insofar as silver linings can help,
Steinar Bjornsson's 33
rd minute goal did end a drought of 676 days since UC Santa Barbara was last awarded a penalty kick.
QUOTABLE
From head coach Tim Vom Steeg: "We had 23 shots tonight and the only goal we scored was the PK," Vom Steeg said. "We had a ball at the penalty spot, you know, we had Kaden (Standish) running across. All he's got to do is just, just, you know, nothing difficult. Nothing challenging, just put it on frame and hit it hard and get a couple of goals and we're done."
"Unfortunately, it feels a lot like last year, you know, where we just stared at the, you know, we're creating even more chances this year, but for some reason, we, it's just a lack of, you know, whatever it takes to get it done. That's not us right now."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gaucho goalkeeper
Owen Beninga was the first of the two netminders called into action, making a reaction stop after a shot was flicked his direction in the seventh minute, but as the game progressed deeper into the first 45 minutes, the home team seemed to form a tighter grip on it. The Gauchos manufactured a series of good chances in the 12
th, 13
th and 14
th minutes, with
Kaden Standish seeing a shot blocked,
Kalle Rahbek a cross come up empty and Bjornsson forcing a save low at the near post. However, Bjornsson's attempt was one of only four of the Gauchos' nine saved shots that required much effort or drama to stop. The Icelander had another attempt in the 21
st minute that was much more routine for the Hornets' goalkeeper to contain.
But finally, Bjornsson engineered the Santa Barbara breakthrough in the 33
rd minute, making a run between two defenders and into the penalty area, with one of them tripping him up to earn the spot kick. Bjornsson coolly converted the penalty low and to his right, ending an even longer drought of 707 days without a Gaucho scoring from the spot in a match.
Santa Barbara created good chances to extend their lead late in the half, but
Zac Siebenlist will surely be feeling that if he didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all after none of his career-high six shots found the back of the net. He was denied by a goal-line block in the 40
th minute after
Mateos Carvalho had dribbled around the keeper, then denied again by a great close-range save at the far post. He started the second half by being robbed again, this time getting a free header some 10 yards from goal only to see the shot saved by the goalkeeper again.
But aside from Siebenlist's shot, it was largely the Hornets that controlled things in the first 15 minutes after halftime, and just before the hour mark, a slip in midfield gave Sacramento State's leading scorer and assister an open run at goal. He played a pass across the face, and a tap-in at the back post leveled the scores.
The still vexed (or potentially downright hexed) Siebenlist nearly gave the Gauchos the lead back two minutes later, getting an open shot from close range, but he smashed the attempt off the crossbar. And that was the last best opportunity for Santa Barbara.
Donovan Sessoms got some good looks late but could not force the goalkeeper to leave his feet, and things got messy when each side had a player sent off within two minutes of each other, in the 78
th and 80
th.
The tie marks the first time that Santa Barbara has played its conference opener at home and failed to win under Vom Steeg, with now a 13-0-1 record when hosting the first match of the conference season during his tenure.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos must reset and prepare to go again, as they will host Utah Valley at Harder Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
