Mike Klan
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -(KEYT). It was a day for defenders in San Luis Obispo on Saturday, as Haruki Utsumi scored the only goal and the UC Santa Barbara Men’s Soccer team’s back line shut out Cal Poly to claim the Blue-Green Rivalry and three crucial points for the Gauchos with a 1-0 victory. With the result and September’s 0-0 draw at Harder Stadium, Santa Barbara wins the season series against their arch-rivals, 1-0 on aggregate, the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Gauchos have claimed the Blue-Green Rivalry.
Santa Barbara’s three center backs — Utsumi, Drew Kamienski and Calle Mollerberg — were all tremendous on Saturday, Kamienski’s unflappable composure complementing the other two’s tenacity perfectly to anchor the defense. The wing backs — Eddie Villeda, Kaden Standish and Colby Renton — gave all of their energy to fulfill their duties both offensively and defensively, though both Ramses Martinez and Zac Siebenlist might have managed to cover even more ground as they spent the afternoon pressing and pestering the Mustang defense. And in goal, Luke Skinner’s performance was exactly what the Gauchos needed: confidence playing the ball in the air and a couple of huge close-range saves to preserve the clean sheet.
HOW IT HAPPENEDIt helped that Santa Barbara came out in the driver’s seat, enjoying the majority of possession and largely controlling the game in the first half. They had to weather one early Mustang storm, but basically as soon as the Gauchos had finished fending that off, they took the lead at the other end. Utsumi’s goal, like the first two of his career in Blue and Gold, came from a corner kick. The kick itself went short to Villeda, who took two touches to evade his defender and then fizzed a low cross into the penalty area. Utsumi was waiting at the near post and just had to redirect the ball into the far corner netting.
After taking the lead, Santa Barbara remained on top, and they looked like doubling their advantage in the 21st minute. Standish found Steinar Bjornsson with a cross, and the Icelander made the smart choice to head the ball back across goal, where both Siebenlist and Martinez were waiting. Siebenlist got a touch to the pass, not to control it for himself but just enough that it fell kindly for Martinez to volley toward the back post. It may have been going wide in the end, but the venomous shot drew a last-ditch block from the Mustang defense.
There were a couple more storms for the Gauchos to weather on the road to halftime, as the Santa Barbara defense did well to keep Cal Poly from getting a shot on target in a 34th-minute goal-mouth scramble, blocking two shots then watching a third sail harmlessly high. In the 42nd, Skinner had his first big moment as a diagonal ball split the Gaucho back line to give the Mustangs a one-on-one. The Englishman stood his ground well for a crucial and impressive save at close range. As the final seconds of the half ticked down, he made two good plays in the air to keep Cal Poly from delivering the ball to his back post, first punching away a cross, then making a clean catch to snare another pass out of the air.
The game’s script flipped on its head for the second half, with the Mustangs testing Skinner and the Santa Barbara defense far more after halftime than they had before it, as the hosts enjoyed the majority of the possession and control of the match in the second 45 minutes.
The Gauchos did create a couple of chances to score, with Villeda getting the best of their second-half looks in the 54th minute but just lacking power on his shot. A minute later, the Mustangs clanged a drive off the crossbar as Santa Barbara did just enough to repel their attacks. They dodged a bullet in the 73rd minute, when Skinner came off his line to punch away a cross, only for it to fall to a Mustang right on the edge of the penalty area. Thankfully, the shot went safely wide of the post.
Also thankfully, the Gauchos had started to get better at disrupting Cal Poly’s attacking flow by that time; the hosts still spent plenty of time on the ball, but Santa Barbara was able to rattle off a couple of counterattacks or long balls the other way to force the Mustangs to start their build-up from scratch.
In the crucial final 10 minutes, the time in which the Gauchos had conceded late equalizers in each of their last two matches, Santa Barbara’s defense made three key plays to secure the win. In the 81st minute, it was Kamienski stepping in at exactly the right time to intercept and clear away a pass intended for a Mustang just six yards from goal. In the 84th, Skinner again raced off his line to punch away a cross and earned a free kick in the process, allowing Santa Barbara to slow the game down. The 87th minute saw the Gauchos’ final and decisive defensive stand. Mollerberg headed away back-to-back deliveries aimed at the six-yard box, and when the Mustangs recycled the ball and got off a shot, Skinner made another tremendous close-range stop. Cal Poly got one more shot from the rebound, but striker Nicolas Willumsen was back to block it. That would be the Mustangs’ final attempt of the evening.
BY THE NUMBERSIn total, Skinner and the Santa Barbara defense faced 14 Cal Poly shots. Skinner saved two and the defense in front of him blocked an additional seven of them.The Gauchos’ committed and tenacious defending secured their seventh clean sheet of the season, matching their total from 2024; two more will see this year’s squad enter the program’s all-time top 10 for shutouts in a single campaign.Four of the five Gauchos who started the match in the back line finished it there, with Utsumi, Kamienski, Mollerberg and Villeda all going the full 90 in the match.With the win, Santa Barbara (at least temporarily) re-takes the lead in The Big West standings, with 12 points. Cal State Bakersfield (11 points) and Cal State Fullerton (10 points) face each other later Saturday night; a win for either would see them take top spot off the Gauchos.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara plays its final home matches of the regular season next week, hosting Sacramento State on Oct. 22 and UC Irvine for Senior Night on Oct. 25 at Harder Stadium. The Hornets and Anteaters played earlier Saturday, with UC Irvine winning, 3-0. Tickets for both of next week’s matches are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets, and UC Santa Barbara students get in for free.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
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