Sunday was move-in day for UCSB’s student body.
So with 10 freshman seeing action for the Gauchos on Sunday, it’s no surprise the men’s soccer team didn’t act like it was at home.
The No. 14 Gauchos were humbled 6-2 by a razor-sharp No. 1 Wake Forest, which came into Harder Stadium and handed the Gauchos their worst home loss in the highly successful Tim Vom Steeg era.
The Demon Deacons were that good.
After going 22-2-2 last season on its way to the national title, Wake Forest (6-0-0) returned all but two players in its starting lineup – a group that includes three on the Hermann Trophy Watch list, which determines the country’s best player at the end of the season.
UCSB was 61-9-8 at home since 2001 heading into Sunday’s game. The Gaucho-loco crowd of 7,408 thought that after Nick Perera’s quick strike put the Gauchos up 1-0 early, No. 62 could be on the way.
But Wake scored just before halftime and seized momentum, turning the first-half deficit into a 5-1 lead by the 70th minute.
“We made some adjustments during the flow of the first half,” Wake Forest head coach Jay Vidovich, whose team returns all but two starters from last year’s title team. “That we got one in just before the half ended was a big-time momentum thing for us. To go into the locker room with that timely goal really helped us.”
Vom Steeg agreed, saying “It took the pressure off them. They went into halftime with that late goal. We didn’t come back from that.”
The three Hermann finalists — forward Marcus Tracy and midfielders Sam Cronin and Cody Arnoux —were in the thick of things.
Tracy set up that first goal and assisted on Wake’s fourth goal, which came from Cronin, before scoring himself in the 67th minute to make it 4-1. Luke Norman scored for the Deacons two minutes later to make it 5-1.
“I’ve been saying all along, Marcus Tracy doesn’t belong in college soccer,” raved Vom Steeg. “He’s hard to handle, he’s big, and he’s athletic.”
The Demon Deacons really turned it on in the second half and dominated both possession and the scoreboard. Wake outshot the Gauchos 12-4 in the second half and converted on five.
Chris Pontius converted a free kick in the 78th minute for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
UCSB suffered a bad break in the first half when midfielder Luis Silva got his foot clipped on a breakaway and had to leave the game for good. Vom Steeg said he had liked Silva’s energy and didn’t think he would miss any time.
The Gauchos’ schedule doesn’t get any easier as they face two more former national champions in the coming two weeks. UCSB embarks on a three-game road trip that includes visits to Indiana next Saturday, UCLA on Oct. 1 and the Big West opener at Irvine on Oct. 4.
Conference-rival Cal State Northridge comes to Harder for the Gauchos’ next home match on Oct. 8.
By that time, everyone should be settled in comfortably.
