UC Davis drew first blood in the Big West Men’s Soccer Semifinal at Harder Stadium Saturday night, but a three-goal, second-half onslaught from the UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer team proved to be just enough to give the Gauchos a 3-2 victory.
With the victory, top-seeded UCSB clinched its spot in the Big West Championship for the fourth time in five years, but will seek its first title since 2021. The Gauchos also avenge a 2-0 loss to UC Davis in last year’s Big West final.
They will play No. 2-seeded UC Irvine for this year’s title on Friday, Nov. 14, at Harder Stadium at 7 p.m.
“We used a lot of the game last year to formulate our game plan tonight because they came in and just dominated the field, which they can do when they go with Goodman and Lillington up front, so the key was, in part, to turn this into a running game,” UCSB head coach Tim Vom Steeg said.
“We knew that if we could get them into a running game in the second half and not concede a second goal, we could win.”
The Gauchos’ three goals scored on Saturday were the most in a single contest in nearly a month since a 3-0 win at UC Riverside on Oct. 4, and they needed every single one.
The scoring got started late in the first half, after a world-class save from Gauchos’ goalkeeper Owen Beninga in the 38th minute gave UC Davis a corner kick.
The ensuing kick was cleared by a Gaucho defender out to UC Davis’s Carson Hammond, who played the ball back into the box.
The Aggies’ sophomore midfielder Ben Elkins then made a fantastic play, getting back onside, tracking the ball, and heading it backwards into the goal past Beninga to give his team the 1-0 lead on the road.
But in the second half, the Gauchos did not come out demoralized. They came out and did what the game plan asked for: run.
All that running created opportunities, and the Gauchos cashed in at the 58th minute, as UCSB’s first score of the game came courtesy of a corner kick as well.
A beautiful pass found the top of sophomore defender Calle Mollerberg’s head, and after an initial block, Mollerberg used his right foot to tap the ball past the keeper and level the score.
Then, Santa Barbara got a little luck. A pass into the box from Eddie Villeda was cleared out and found redshirt junior Kaden Standish.
Standish fired a ball from his left foot that looked like it would be corralled by Davis’s keeper, Noah Schwengeler, but the senior misplayed the ball and it found the back of the net to give the Gauchos a 2-1 lead in the 60th minute.
“The first thing that was on my mind (after the goal) was my grandpa, who recently passed away on October 9, and so I think a lot of this, what I’m doing this season, is for him,” Standish said.
“He always supported me, he watched all my games, he was always watching ESPN+ and the last thing he said to me was ‘I was proud of you’ So that pushes me to be a little better knowing that, if I don’t give it everything I got, it’s kind of like I am letting him down, my family down, my team down.”
The Gauchos’ third and final goal came not much longer, as in the 69th minute, some fancy footwork gave the home team a two-goal advantage.
Graduate student Buba Fofanah got a beautiful through ball and ran up the right sideline, playing a ball in from the top of the box. UCSB’s Zac Siebenlist then faked like he was going to shoot the ball, letting it roll right past him and right to Dominick Phanco.
Phanco collected the ball and fired it to the top right corner, finding the back of the net for a 3-1 lead.
“I saw Buba 1v1 on the side and I was like ‘Oh, he’s definitely going to beat him,’ and Zac made a perfect near-post run and I was just screaming at him to let the ball go,” Phanco said with a laugh. “I was like, please, please, please, leave it, I was so wide open and then I just tucked it near post.”
UC Davis did not go down without a fight. The Aggies ultimately put up 25 shots on Saturday, nine of which were on goal and many in the final 15 minutes. UC Davis put one through in the 82nd as senior standout Cason Goodman scored his sixth goal of the year on a beautiful header.
It was Goodman’s, an All-Big West First Team selection and Santa Barbara local, 26th career goal.
In the 88th minute, defender Gabriel Sanchez nearly headed the equalizer into the net, but Beninga, who was out of position from attempting a block earlier in the play, ran over and swatted it away, ultimately ending the Aggies’ final shot and their season.
“This team is very resilient right now, and I think we’re hard to beat right now,” Vom Steeg said.