SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — For the second time in three seasons, Utah Valley entered a matchup with the UC Santa Barbara Men’s Soccer team unbeaten and left with its first loss of the season.

The Gauchos put an end to their visitors’ perfect start and ended the first week of conference play atop The Big West standings with a 3-2 win on Saturday night.

Donovan Sessoms was involved in all three goals, setting up the first and scoring the next two, while a determined Santa Barbara defense staved off a late Wolverine rally.

“I mean, you saw [Utah Valley] run out at the starting lineup and it looked like it was six-two, six-three, six-four, six-two, there was one guy that was under six foot, and we came out and played a really good first half,” UCSB head coach Tim Vom Steeg said. “We got the two goals; it’s what we’ve been trying to do all year, we did some good things and buried a couple balls.

“The second half, it just got ragged, but at this point, we’re just so desperate for a win to kind of get our season going in the other direction, and this is a team that, they haven’t lost this year, so it was a huge win for us. The mindset was great, the mentality was good, we did the things we had to, and we did all of that without Steinar (Bjornsson). Donovan stepped up big for us.”

The first 15 minutes were a cagey affair, with neither side able to generate a shooting chance, though the visitors did test goalkeeper Owen Beninga in just the second minute, the big man judging the flight of a lofted pass perfectly to get his hand on it before a Wolverine forward; Utah Valley appealed for a penalty but were waved away even after a video review.
 
Then, seemingly from nothing, the Gauchos took the lead in the 16th minute, on the first shot of the game.

After Peleg Brown’s initial cross into the penalty area was cleared away, Sessoms helped recycle the ball back to Brown some 30 yards from goal on the left side, and the Gauchos’ left back uncorked an absolute thunderbolt, a line-drive of a shot that flew into the back of the net even though Utah Valley’s goalkeeper got a hand on it.
 
That bulge of the net had the Gauchos’ tails up and the home team gained more control of proceedings.

Sessoms got through the back line shortly after the goal but was denied by a good block, and Brown nearly created another goal from a set piece in the 19th minute, playing a pass through the defense for Kaden Standish, who just could not wrap his foot around the ball enough to sneak it in at the near post.

Another set-piece routine gave Kalle Rahbek space to shoot from 25 yards out, and he forced a great save from the keeper, diving to his right.
 
When Santa Barbara broke through again in the 31st minute, it was Rahbek being rewarded for what was yet another tireless performance in the midfield. The Gauchos’ co-captain intercepted a pass out of the back, laid it off to Sessoms at the top of the penalty area and watched number seven curl a shot into the top right corner to double the Gauchos’ advantage.
 
With Santa Barbara spending a majority of the first half attacking, their defense did not have to do much to keep out the Wolverines, with Beninga needing to make just one (very routine) save in the first half.
 
Less than five minutes into the second half, the Gauchos’ grip on the game grew even tighter when Zac Siebenlist sprinted past the defense, into the penalty area and away from his marker, only to be brought down clumsily.

While not initially ruled a foul on the field, Vom Steeg challenged the call, and video review confirmed that it was Santa Barbara’s second penalty kick in as many games. Sessoms stepped up and converted, beating the keeper even though he guessed the right way.
 
However, the Gaucho defense’s mental and physical fortitude became necessary just three minutes later when Utah Valley was awarded and converted a penalty kick of its own to get on the scoreboard.

The Blue and Gold back line held the visitors to just that score until the 86th minute, when a looped pass into the box was met with one flicked header and then a finish to bring the visitors within one. In a four-minute crucible, the Gauchos stood up to the heat, knocking the Wolverines’ final delivery into the penalty area far enough away to start celebrating as the stadium PA counted off the final seconds.

With four points through two of their six Big West conference fixtures, Santa Barbara sits alone at the top of the seven-team standings, with the top four at the end of the season earning spots in The Big West Championship.

The Gauchos will travel to third-place Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday, Oct. 6 before returning to Harder Stadium to host a non-conference Blue-Green Rivalry game against Cal Poly, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.