UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team is an NCAA Division I college soccer team composed of student-athletes attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Gauchos play their home matches at Harder Stadium. Like most of the other UC Santa Barbara Gauchos athletic teams, the men's soccer team competes in the Big West Conference.

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
men's soccer
2019 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team
Founded1966
UniversityUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
Athletic directorJohn McCutcheon
Head coachTim Vom Steeg (20th season)
ConferenceBig West
North Division
LocationSanta Barbara, CA
StadiumHarder Stadium
(Capacity: 17,000)
NicknameGauchos
ColorsBlue and Gold[1]
         
Home
Away
NCAA Tournament championships
2006
NCAA Tournament runner-up
2004
NCAA Tournament College Cup
2004, 2006
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
2004, 2006, 2019
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019
NCAA Tournament appearances
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019
Conference Tournament championships
2010
Conference Regular Season championships
2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

The UCSB Gauchos won the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The program has produced a total of 19 All-American selections, all but one of which since 2002, and over 50 players who have gone on to play professionally or represent their senior national teams.[2]

From 2007 to 2015, the Gauchos were recognized every year by the NCAA as the men's attendance champions by average attendance (men's and women's inclusive across Division I, II, and III) – the longest such recorded streak in the NCAA record books.[3] The program holds the top six all-time NCAA soccer records for largest regular season attendances at on-campus venues (men's and women's inclusive across Division I, II, and III).[4][5] This is highlighted by the top all-time mark of 15,896 fans packed into Harder Stadium on September 24, 2010, when UC Santa Barbara hosted UCLA for their regular season match, despite the Santa Barbara County Fire Marshal turning fans away at the gates for fear of filling the stadium over capacity.[6][7][8]

History

Humble beginnings

UC Santa Barbara fielded its first men's soccer team in 1966, but they didn't compete in the Big West Conference until 1983.[9] The Gauchos had mixed success, with good seasons (1983, 1988) alongside bad seasons (1991, 1992), but never found prolonged stretches of success or failure.[10]

The Big West Conference stopped sponsoring men's soccer after the 1991 season, but re-instituted it prior to the 2001 season.[9] During this period, UCSB competed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The return of soccer to the Big West Conference marked the rough beginning of the Gauchos' greatest success to date.[9]

Vom Steeg era

In January 1999, UC Santa Barbara's athletic director, Gary Cunningham, was successfully able to hire former UCSB and professional soccer player, Tim Vom Steeg, away from Santa Barbara City College to lead the Gauchos' program.[11][12] The Gauchos won the 2001 Big West Conference championship for the first time in their history, but missed out on a trip to the NCAA Tournament since the Big West Conference was ineligible for an automatic bid.[13] UC Santa Barbara have won eight Big West regular season championships (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014) and have won the Big West tournament in 2010.[10]

2004 NCAA Championships

The Gauchos burst on to the national scene in 2004 during their run at the 2004 NCAA Championship. The showing in this tournament established UC Santa Barbara as a force in college soccer, with UCSB marching all the way to the finals before losing out on penalties to Indiana.

2006 NCAA Championships

2006 White House visit with George W. Bush.

The crowning achievement of the men's soccer program took place in 2006, where UCSB won the NCAA Division I Championship in a 2-1 decision over UCLA. It marked the program's first championship and only the university's second athletics championship (1979 Men's Water Polo).

At one point during the season, UCSB's record stood at 7-6 with dim prospects for postseason glory. However, a 5-1 stretch to close out the regular season raised morale. The Gauchos made the NCAA Tournament as an unseeded team. During their championship run, the unseeded Gauchos defeated San Diego State at home, then #1 ranked/#3 seeded SMU followed by Old Dominion on the road, and finally Northwestern before an NCAA season high 8,784 people at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara. This propelled the Gauchos into the Final Four and earned them a trip to the College Cup held at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

UCSB needed extra time to defeat #2 seed Wake Forest 0-0 (4-3 on penalties) in their first match of the College Cup. The final was a matchup between Southern California teams as UCLA advanced on a 4-0 win over Virginia. The #8 ranked/#8 seeded Bruins served as the final team to fall to the Gauchos by a score of 2-1 to complete UCSB's magical season.

Post-championship to present

At the end of UCSB's 2-1 loss to UC Davis in overtime, UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg was aggressively yelling at the referees for what he believed was a missed foul call preceding the UC Davis golden goal. During the chaos, UCSB senior Peter McGlynn ran toward the match referee, Reed Christy, and pushed him to the ground despite Vom Steeg's attempts to block McGlynn. McGlynn was detained by campus police and later released.[14][15] As a result of the incident, the UCSB Athletics Department, in collaboration with the Big West Conference, removed McGlynn from the team with two games remaining in his senior year, suspended head coach Tim Vom Steeg for the following game, and chose to forgo postseason play for 2012.[16] McGlynn later apologized with a statement on his Twitter account and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and served community service as a result.[17]

Players

Current squad

As of September 23, 2020[18]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
0 GK  SLV Alan Carrillo
1 GK  USA Ben Roach
2 DF  USA Ramses Martinez
3 DF  AUS Henry Davies
4 DF  ESP Adrian Adames
4 DF  NGA Salaudeen Ayila
6 DF  ENG William Gillingham
8 MF  USA Kaya Fabbretti
10 FW  SLE Rodney Michael
12 FW  USA Pablo Figueroa
12 MF  USA Carson Vom Steeg
13 MF  AUS Finn Ballard McBride
15 DF  USA Giovanny Acosta
16 FW  USA Rigoberto Barragan
16 FW  GHA Ameyawu Muntari
17 FW  SWE Fabian Bostroem
17 FW  MEX Derek Kryzda
18 DF  USA Ryan Johnson
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF  USA Nalu Mack
22 MF  USA Kenny Villatoro
23 MF  USA Luka Živković
23 DF  USA Andrew Ratto
24 DF  USA Ryan Pace
25 FW  USA Emmanuel Petrov
26 DF  USA Tristan Miller
26 MF  USA Miguel Tostado
27 FW  USA Carter Clemmensen
28 FW  USA Diran Bebekian
28 FW  USA Oscar Ferreira
30 MF  USA Sam Fletcher
31 DF  USA Lucas Gonzalez
32 MF  USA Zade Ghani
33 MF  USA Shawn Foster
40 GK  USA Carlos Zuniga
77 MF  RSA Thaabit Baartman
GK  GER Luca Oliveri del Castillo

Notable former players

Players noted below, with years at UCSB in parentheses, have represented their senior national team or played professionally.

Coaching staff

Current technical staff

As of September 5, 2018[19]
Position Name
Head coach Tim Vom Steeg
Associate head coach Greg Wilson
Assistant coach/Goalkeepers coach David Elias
Assistant coach Christy Gates–Bowes

Head coaches

NameNationalityFromToPWLDGFGAWin%Honours
Zolton von Smogyi - 1966 1971 593221654.24
Sandy Guess - 1972 1973 25913336.00
Sandy Guess/Ken Reeves - 1974 1974 1556433.34
Alan Meeder 1975 1978 734226557.53
John Purcell - 1979 1980 371517540.54
Andy Kuenzli - 1981 1989 18095642152.78
Cliff Draeger - 1990 1991 371520240.54
Mark Arya 1992 1998 1304084630.77
Tim Vom Steeg 1999 Present 216140562064.81

UCSB seasons (since 2001)

Season Conference Record Conference
Tourn. Pos.
Overall Record Honors Top points[20] Top scorer[21]
Conference Pld. W L D Pos. Pld. W L D Natl.
Rank
2001 Big West 10 7 2 1 1st 19 11 5 3 Big West Champion Rob Friend 27 Rob Friend 11
2002 Big West 10 9 0 1 1st 22 18 3 1 Big West Champion, NCAA 2nd Round Rob Friend 44 Rob Friend 20
2003 Big West 10 7 3 0 2nd 22 16 5 1 NCAA 3rd Round Drew McAthy
Neil Jones
Memo Arzate
30 Drew McAthy 14
2004 Big West 10 8 2 0 1st 25 21 3 1 Big West Champion, NCAA Finalists Drew McAthy 43 Drew McAthy 18
2005 Big West 10 7 1 2 2nd 21 13 5 3 23[22] NCAA 2nd Round Ivan Becerra 26 Ivan Becerra 12
2006 Big West 10 7 3 0 1st 25 17 7 1 1[23] Big West Champion, NCAA Champion Eric Avila 21 Eric Avila 8
2007 Big West 12 9 1 2 1st 21 13 4 4 8[24] Big West Champion, NCAA 3rd Round Ciaran O'Brien 25 Chris Pontius 11
Beginning with the 2008 season, the Big West Conference instituted a conference tournament to determine the winner of the NCAA automatic bid instead of awarding it to the regular season winner.
2008 Big West 10 5 2 3 2nd Finals 22 10 7 5 22[25] NCAA 2nd Round Chris Pontius 32 Chris Pontius 14
2009 Big West 10 8 1 1 1st Finals 24 17 5 2 10[26] Big West Champion, NCAA 3rd Round David Walker 24 David Walker 10
2010 Big West 10 7 2 1 2nd Champion 22 14 5 3 19[27] NCAA 2nd Round Sam Garza 24 Sam Garza 9
2011 Big West 10 6 4 0 2nd Finals 23 15 7 1 12[28] NCAA 3rd Round Luis Silva 44 Luis Silva 17
Beginning with the 2012 season, the Big West Conference instituted two divisions within regular season play, moving away from a single table format. UCSB's conference position will now be represented as the standing in the "North Division".
2012 Big West 10 4 5 1 4th 19 10 6 3 Nic Ryan 19 Nic Ryan 8
2013 Big West 10 7 0 3 1st Semifinals 21 12 6 3 20[29] Big West Champion, NCAA 2nd Round Goffin Boyoko 19 Goffin Boyoko 8
2014 Big West 10 6 2 2 1st Semifinals 20 10 7 3 Big West Champion Nick DePuy 21 Nick DePuy 10
2015 Big West 10 7 2 1 1st Finals 23 14 7 2 15[30] Big West Champion, NCAA 3rd round Nick DePuy 31 Nick DePuy 15
2016 Big West 10 6 1 3 1st Semifinals 20 10 7 3 Big West Champion Kevin Feucht 24 Kevin Feucht 11
2017 Big West 10 4 3 3 2nd First round 19 6 8 5 Rodney Michael 20 Rodney Michael 8
Beginning with the 2018 season, the Big West Conference reverved back to a single table format, moving away from the North and South divisions within regular season play.
2018 Big West 7 4 2 1 3rd First round 18 10 6 2 Rodney Michael 17 Rodney Michael 7
2019 Big West 7 4 2 1 2nd Finals 23 15 4 4 NCAA quarter-finals Will Baynham 28 Will Baynham 10

The Blue-Green Rivalry

Chosen as the #1 "Greatest Rivalry In College Soccer" by CollegeSoccerNews.com, the main rival of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos soccer team is the Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer team.[31] The rivalry is a part of the larger Blue–Green Rivalry, which encompasses all sports from the two schools. With both schools located on the Central Coast less than 100 miles apart, attendance has risen dramatically following the Gauchos' 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The crowds of these games are record-setting and are among the highest regular season games in NCAA college soccer history.

Postseason

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 19–11 through twelve appearances.[32]

Year Round Opponent Result
2002First Round
Second Round
San Diego
California
W 2–0
L 1–2
2003Second Round
Third Round
California
St. John's
W 2–0
L 2–3
2004Second Round
Third Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National Championship
Milwaukee
UNC Greensboro
VCU
Duke
Indiana
W 2–1
W 1–0
W 4–1
W 5–0
L 1–2
2005First Round
Second Round
San Diego State
CSU Northridge
W 2–0
L 2–3
2006First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National Championship
San Diego State
SMU
Old Dominion
Northwestern
Wake Forest
UCLA
W 2–1
W 3–1
W 2–1
W 3–2
W 1–0
W 2–1
2007Second Round
Third Round
Washington
Ohio State
W 1–0
L 3–4
2008Second RoundCaliforniaL 2–3
2009First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Wofford
San Diego
UCLA
W 1–0
W 1–0
L 1–2
2010First Round
Second Round
Denver
California
W 1–0
L 1–2
2011Second Round
Third Round
Providence
Creighton
W 3–2
L 1–2
2013Second RoundPenn StateL 0–1
2015Second Round
Third Round
South Carolina
Clemson
W 1–0
L 2–3

References

  1. "UCSB Color". Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  2. "Nick DePuy Named All-American, Becomes Fourth Gaucho Ever to Earn First Team Status". UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. December 11, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  3. "Men's Soccer Attendance Records: Annual Home Attendance Champions" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 5. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  4. "Men's Soccer Attendance Records: All-Time Largest Crowds" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 7. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  5. "Women's Soccer Attendance Records: Game Attendance Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 6. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  6. Keh, Andrew (November 2, 2010). "Surge in Attendance at Men's College Games". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  7. Eskilson, J.R. (September 20, 2012). "Men's College Preview: The Great Cal Rivalry". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  8. Punzal, Barry (September 20, 2012). "It's the main event: UCSB vs. UCLA at Harder Stadium". presidiosports.com. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  9. "Big West Conference Men's Soccer Records" (PDF). bigwest.org. December 2014. p. 2. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  10. "Big West Conference Men's Soccer Records" (PDF). bigwest.org. December 2014. pp. 2–3. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  11. "Tim Vom Steeg – Men's Soccer". DARE. UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. 2013. p. 39. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  12. "Friday's Sports Transactions". Associated Press. January 16, 1999. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016 via HighBeam Research.
  13. "Men's Soccer Claims Big West Championship With 2-0 Shutout Of UC Irvine". ucsbgauchos.com. November 16, 2001. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  14. NBC News
  15. http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index_files/Page7605.htm
  16. "UCSB Athletics' Statement Regarding Sunday's Men's Soccer Post-Game Incident".
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "2020-21 UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer Roster". UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  19. "Men's Soccer Coaches". UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  20. In NCAA scoring, goals count as 2 points while assists count as one point.
  21. Goals in all competitions (regular season, conference, and NCAA Tournament) are counted.
  22. NSCAA (December 13, 2005). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2005 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  23. NSCAA (December 5, 2006). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2006 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  24. NSCAA (December 19, 2007). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2007 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  25. NSCAA (December 16, 2008). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2008 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  26. NSCAA (December 15, 2009). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2009 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  27. NSCAA (November 9, 2010). "National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2010 NCAA Division I Men Final Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  28. "NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division I Men's - National - Final Post-Season Ranking - December 13, 2011". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. December 13, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  29. "NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division I Men's - National - Final Post-Season Ranking - December 17, 2013". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. December 17, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  30. "NSCAA NCAA Division I Men - National - Final Postseason Ranking - December 15, 2015". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. December 15, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  31. "The Fourteen Greatest Rivalries In College Soccer". collegesoccernews.com. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  32. "Division I Men's Soccer Championships Records Book" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
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