Gauchos knocked out of NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks at Stanford

PALA ALTO, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team's rollercoaster season ended in the wildest ride of all, as the Gauchos mounted a second-half comeback and scored to force overtime with just 13 seconds left to play at No. 16 seed Stanford on Sunday night. After scoreless extra periods, the game ended in a 2-2 draw and had to be decided by a penalty shootout, with Stanford advancing, 6-5.

FROM HEAD COACH TIM VOM STEEG
"We came in (at halftime) and we talked about throwing everything on the field," Vom Steeg said of his team's performance. "We didn't think we were playing bad in the game, we just gave up the two goals …. But with that, we knew that this was a team that was playing for their lives and we fought and we battled, and we started moving the ball around finally and creating a lot of opportunities. Look, I'm very proud of them …. I'm disappointed for the players that we lost, but at the end of the day it was PK's to move on, so I don't even feel like we lost the game. That was a great effort by the guys in the second half."

"I enjoyed coaching them, we played a lot of really good soccer, we did a lot of really great things and I think we were recognized for doing that all season," Vom Steeg said of the 2024 Gauchos. "It's a credit to obviously some of our seniors, but I think our recruiting class that brought in some really good players combined with the group that was returning made it to where it was a good mixture, we got the balance right. We had to suffer through, like it seems every year, with the injuries, losing Manu and Ramses during the middle of the season and having to battle through conference, but we finally got those players back so that we could finish on a note that I feel good about tonight, like I said, in terms of what we did on this field. It was just unfortunate that we couldn't find a way in the PK's."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos put almost the entirety of their first-half effort into defending on Sunday night, as the Cardinal rattled off 10 shots in the opening frame. Santa Barbara did manage to craft a couple of opportunities for themselves, though those were the results of long balls and breakaways. David Mitzner was the first goalkeeper called into action on the night, doing well to parry aside a screaming long-range effort in the 21st minute.

Alexis Ledoux had the best chance of the half for the Gauchos a few minutes later, getting through on goal on a breakaway, but he put the ball just high and wide under pressure from a Cardinal defender.

Mitzner made his second save of the half in the 33rd minute, but Stanford would go up a goal from the resulting corner kick. The Cardinal nearly doubled their advantage in the 34th minute when a ball fell to a Stanford forward no more than six yards from goal, but Mitzner made himself big to make the stop. He made his fourth save of the half in the 44th minute, tipping another long-range effort over the bar.

The Gaucho defense handled the corner kick that came afterwards but their clearance only found a Cardinal player and while his shot was deflected wide, it resulted in another corner kick, which Stanford smuggled into the back of the net. Santa Barbara alleged that Mitzner had been impeded by a Cardinal player standing right in front of him, but their appeals fell on deaf ears.

After the 15-minute halftime break, the Gauchos came out as the aggressors and absolutely dominated the second half of play, out-shooting Stanford 14-1 in the frame. It did not take much of Santa Barbara's furious banging on the door to finally kick it in, as Haruki Utsumi got the Gauchos on the board in the 50th minute. The center back, who spent a good deal of the second half in the attacking third of the field, got an open look at the top of the penalty area and while his first shot was blocked, the rebound came right back to him and he smashed it into the bottom corner.

Santa Barbara could smell blood in the water from that point on, unleashing a barrage of crosses into the penalty area and shots whenever they could create an open look. Ledoux had a chance after a nifty give-and-go passing move in the 60th minute but put the shot over, as did the adventurous Utsumi in the 67th minute.

As the clock ticked toward the 70th minute, the Gauchos had two shouts for a handball in the penalty area, first after a Nicolas Willumsen shot then after Ledoux had an attempt blocked. After vigorous protests from both sides saw players from both teams booked, the referee did award the Gauchos a penalty kick following a video review. Heartbreakingly, the attempt was saved.

Still, there were 20 minutes to play after that moment, and the Gauchos would eventually find their equalizer. Filip Basili was denied by the woodwork in the 73rd minute and Peleg Brown had a shot go just high and wide in the 81st minute before Zac Siebenlist put a shot home in the 90th minute. It was Basili who provided the assist, playing a cross into the box. Siebenlist arrived at the near post and nodded the ball on, his header sending it into the back of the net with just 13 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Gauchos were the only team to manage a shot in the first 10-minute overtime period, with Caden Vom Steeg having an attempt blocked and Brown putting one wide. Stanford did manage a couple shots in the second overtime, but Mitzner collected the first easily and watched the second sail wildly high. Kaden Standish fired a shot at the other end, but it also went wide and the match went to a penalty kick shootout.

With the Gauchos kicking first, both teams scored their first three attempts before a Santa Barbara miss and a Stanford make in the fourth round gave the home team the edge. Ledoux converted his fifth-round attempt to keep the shootout going, and Mitzner saved the Cardinal's shot to send the shootout into sudden-victory mode. Both teams converted their next attempt, but the Gauchos' seventh attempt of the shootout was saved and Stanford's found the back of the net.

BY THE NUMBERS
With Sunday night's result (officially a draw), Santa Barbara finishes the season with a 12-5-5 overall record, their 14th season with 12 or more wins under Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg and their best winning percentage since reaching the Elite Eight in 2019.
Two Gauchos entered the program's record books this year: team captains Alexis Ledoux and David Mitzner.
Ledoux's 14 goals this year are tied for the eighth most in a single season by any Gaucho ever, and his 33 total points are the ninth-largest single-season haul in program history.
Mitzner finishes his Gaucho career with a 1.09 goals-against average, tying him with Bob Tuler for the seventh-best career mark in program history.

(Article by UCSB Athletics)