Gauchos soccer star Alexis Ledoux named Big West Offensive Player of the Year

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Big West announced its 2024 men's soccer all-conference teams and award winners on Tuesday, with Alexis Ledoux headlining UC Santa Barbara's eight honorees as The Big West Offensive Player of the Year. Mikkel Goeling, Calle Mollerberg, Nicolas Willumsen, Filip Basili, Caden Vom Steeg, David Mitzner and Peleg Brown were all honored as well.

Alexis Ledoux was quite simply one of the best attacking players in the nation this year. The Frenchman ended the regular season with the second-most goals (14) and total points (33) in the nation, ranking among the top 10 single seasons by any Gaucho ever in both categories. He scored multiple goals in four games this season and had a goal and an assist in four games as well. Five of his goals were the game-winning score, giving him the most game-winning goals in the country this year. Along with his Offensive Player of the Year title, Ledoux was named to the All-Big West First Team.

Mikkel Goeling joins Ledoux on the all-conference first team, earning the honor for a second consecutive season in Blue and Gold. A key piece in the Gaucho midfield, Goeling appeared in 14 games before an arm injury sidelined him, with the Gauchos going 9-2-2 with Goeling on the field. He assisted goals in Santa Barbara's 4-1 drubbings of UNLV and Utah Valley during non-conference play. In conference action, he played the full 90 minutes in consecutive matches, including the Gauchos' key win at UC Irvine.

Calle Mollerberg earned himself All-Big West Second Team honors as well as an All-Freshman Team nod for his phenomenal rookie campaign after missing 2023 with an injury. The Swedish center back was a key piece of the Gaucho defense this season, missing just two games all year and playing the fifth-most minutes among Santa Barbara's outfield players over his 16 games. All six of the Gauchos' clean sheets came with Mollerberg in the back line, including their Blue-Green Rivalry game against Cal Poly and win at UC Irvine. Those were two of the 10 games in which he played the full 90 minutes this season.

The Gauchos' list of sensational Scandinavians also includes striker Nicolas Willumsen, who earned All-Big West Honorable Mention as Santa Barbara's main center forward in 2024. Willumsen scored three of his five goals in Big West games this season, including the crucial game-winning strike at UC Irvine which gave the Gauchos their first win at Anteater Stadium since 2015. The Dane also scored the game-winning goal in Santa Barbara's season-opening win over Missouri State and assisted both the game-tying and game-winning goals in the Gauchos' comeback victory over UC San Diego.

Rounding out Santa Barbara's fabulous Scandinavian foursome is midfielder Filip Basili, who played just about every role in a Gaucho midfield that was hit hard by the injury bug. The Norwegian featured in all 18 games this season and posted a career-best five assists on the year, tying him for the team lead and fourth in The Big West. During non-conference play he scored against Utah Valley for the second year in a row, and during conference action, he assisted both Santa Barbara's opening and game-winning goals against UC Davis.

Caden Vom Steeg was also a workhorse for Santa Barbara en route to his All-Big West Honorable Mention, playing all but four minutes of the Gauchos' conference schedule at right back and spending more time on the field than all but one of Santa Barbara's outfield players. Over the back half of the season, from Sept. 22 on, he played 986 of 990 possible minutes and added a crucial assist in that stretch, setting up Willumsen's game-winner at UC Irvine. His other assist on the year, at Kansas City, also set up the Gauchos' game-winning goal in that match.

Behind Vom Steeg in the Gauchos' goalkeeper position, David Mitzner played every minute of his first season as Santa Barbara's first-choice netminder and earning an all-conference Honorable Mention. The Gauchos' co-captain kept six clean sheets and maintained a 1.06 goals-against average to rank among the top 50 goalkeepers in the country. One of those clean sheets came in Kansas City, where he faced a total of 21 shots. Against his former team, Portland, he kept another clean sheet, facing 11 shots in that match.

On the left side of the Gaucho defense, Peleg Brown had a tremendous rookie campaign and was named to The Big West All-Freshman team. Starting all 17 of his appearances, Brown played more minutes than all but two outfield players for Santa Barbara and assisted more goals than all but two Gauchos as well. A pair of his four assists set up game-winning goals for Santa Barbara, against Pacific and UC Davis. He made an instant impact upon his arrival, recording his first career assist in the season opener against Missouri State.

The Gauchos hold the No. 2 seed for The Big West Championship and will host either No. 3 seed UC Irvine or No. 6 seed Cal State Fullerton in a semifinal match at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. Tickets for that match are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting ucsbgauchos.com/tickets or calling the ticket office at 805-893-UCSB(8272) to secure yours today. All students currently attending a Big West member institution can get in for free with a valid and current student ID.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)