UCSB has led the country in home attendance every season since 2007.
The UCSB men’s soccer team returned to California this week after a season-opening trip to South Carolina and will take on Northwestern on Friday night in the Gauchos’ first game of the season at Harder Stadium.
The Gauchos(1-1), who have led the NCAA in home attendance for seven consecutive years, play seven of their next eight matches at home.
The big crowds at Harder Stadium help make it a tough place for opposing teams to play. The Gauchos haven’t posted a losing record on home turf since 2000 and are 41-14-4 at Harder over the past five seasons. The program has an all-time record of 261-131-44 (.648 winning percentage) at home compared to a 201-205-40 (.496) mark in road and neutral matches.
Against Northwestern, UCSB is undefeated in three games all-time against the Wildcats. Just last year the two teams played in Evansville to open the 2013 season with the Gauchos claiming a 3-1 win. UCSB also came away with wins over the Wildcats in the 2006 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals and in the 2005 regular season.
UCSB’s season so far has consisted of a two-game trip to South Carolina for the Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic Tournament, hosted by the College of Charleston. The Gauchos started with a 2-1 win against Charleston on Friday before falling to Furman 3-0 on Sunday. Sophomore Ismaila Jome earned assists on both of UCSB’s goals on Friday – the first was scored on a Reed McKenna header in the 25th minute before Charlie Miller provided the game-winner in the 37th – for his second career multi-assist and third career multi-point game.
Friday’s game with Northwestern begins at 7 p.m. UCSB then travels to Stanford for an away game before returning to Santa Barbara for home dates with Colgate (Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m.) and No. 1 UCLA (Sept. 20, 7 p.m.).
