When it rains, it’s poor for UC Santa Barbara’s men’s soccer team.
The Big West Conference final slipped away from the Gauchos at Harder Stadium for the third-straight year when Cal State Bakersfield flooded their goal in a Friday night rout of 5-1.
The five Roadrunner goals were the most ever scored in the Big West championship.
UCSB, which lost to UC Irvine in a rainstorm in last year’s final, found its pitch soaked by rain showers again on Friday. It also had to play one man down for 53 minutes after receiving a red card in the first half.
“I heard rumors — I don’t know if this is true — where last week they hoped it didn’t rain tonight,” Bakersfield goalkeeper Zenden Hart said. “That just sets the tone already.”
The Roadrunners (7-4-7) have lost just once since mid-September, posting a 5-1-5 record in their last 11 games.
“An amazing run … an amazing final for us … an amazing moment,” Bakersfield coach Adam Grant said. “A huge amount of work has gone into this.
“I’m just really proud of the players and how they showed up today … how we took our chances and how we came out and were brilliant.”
The Gauchos (9-6-5), which needed to win a penalty-kick shootout to advance from last week’s semifinal at UC Irvine, went just 1-3-1 over the last three weeks.
The sluggish finish, capped by Friday’s drubbing, seriously damaged UCSB’s chances of receiving one of the 25 at-large berths to the 48-team NCAA Tournament. The defeat dropped its RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) to 39.
The tournament field will be announced on NCAA.com on Monday at 10 a.m.
The Big West championship was the first in any sport for Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners joined the league in 2020.
“We haven’t been in that long, but yeah, I think it’s a big deal,” Grant said. “Hopefully it’s the first of many for our programs.”
The five goals were the most allowed by UCSB since 2017.
The first one on Friday came after just 5:56 of play when Filip Arras ripped a 35-yard free kick into the goal’s top-right corner.
“It was one of those moments that as soon as you hit the ball and you see it go over the wall, you kind of see that it’s going to go in,” Arras said. “And then celebrating with the team is just a pleasure.”
The senior defender was named as the Big West Tournament’s most valuable player. Three Gauchos — Steinar Bjornsson, Drew Kamienski and Jack Middleton — joined him on the all-tournament team.
“There were a little bit of nerves, and I don’t know if we particularly started the best,” Grant said, “but I think that settled us a little bit.”
UCSB, which had Kaden Standish’s rocket bounce off the crossbar with 23:20 on the clock, did level the score just two minutes later.
The Gauchos won a video review challenge after claiming that the Roadrunners’ Curtis Miley had committed a handball violation in the process of heading down one of their shots.
Bjornsson cashed it in by slotting his penalty shot past Hart into the lower left corner for his team-best 11th goal of the season.
The Gauchos appealed for another handball penalty in the 31st minute after back-to-back shots by Donovan Sessoms and Kamienski were blocked. This time, the on-field call stood after review.
UCSB had 13 of its 23 shots blocked by Bakersfield’s defense.
The Roadrunners took the lead on a goal by Joey Velasquez in the 34th minute and then added another by Jesse Wangusi just 87 seconds later.
“Even conceding the penalty, we continued to do the right things and score great goals after that,” Grant said. “I think it came together really well today with the counterattack and finishing our chances.”
Matters went bad to worse for the Gauchos when Mateos Carvalho received a red card on a foul just three minutes later.
UCSB still had several chances in the second half to get back into the match.
The first came on a dangerous cross by Sessoms. Zac Ziebenlist provided the next two threats on a bicycle kick and a header, both which went just over the bar.
Hart also had to leap high to save a shot by Bjornsson.
But it was one of only three shots that UCSB put on frame. Bakersfield, which was out-shot by a 23-14 overall margin, put seven of its attempts on frame.
“Defensively we controlled the game very well, and then we were able to spark the counterattack,” Hart said. “Once we got the ball rolling, it was like London buses, you know?
“One comes and they all come.”