Cal Poly men’s soccer failed to win their third consecutive match in a row during a 2-0 loss to Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Harder Stadium.
Despite this match being against two conference opponents, it is considered a non-conference matchup. The teams will face off again at Mustang Memorial Field on Sunday, Oct. 15.
The Gauchos (5-4) head coach Tim Vom Steeg won his 300th game as the UCSB head coach while the Mustangs (2-4-1) struggled to get much going offensively.
Two fouls in the first three minutes of play set the tone early as both teams combined for 25 fouls.
UCSB started scoring off in the 18th minute after Gaucho forward Alexis Ledoux kicked a pass right as he was going out of bounds to the center of the field which went off the head of defender Jorge Aldana to the right foot of forward Nicolas Willumsen, hitting the back of the net for the first goal of the night and to go up 1-0 early on.
The Mustang offense struggled mightily in the match as the Gauchos took their 1-0 lead into halftime.
The Gauchos quickly scored out of the half in the 54th minute after the Cal Poly goalkeeper Justin Siegel punched the ball out on a corner kick but it deflected off of UCSB midfielder Nalu Mack to take a 2-0 lead.
It wasn’t until the 65th minute when the first yellow card of the match was given out to Aldana for unsportsmanlike conduct, and another was given out to UCSB for unsporting in the 76th minute.
Cal Poly had more opportunities to score with six shots on goal in the second half but it wasn’t enough as UCSB cruised the rest of the way to the 2-0 victory.
Gaucho goalkeeper Leroy Zeller accumulated all three of his saves in the second half.
The Mustangs will look to get back in the win column as conference play starts when they take on UC Davis on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at Mustang Memorial Field.
