Can you believe that UCSB has yet to win a regular-season men’s soccer match at home this year?
Granted, the 2-2-2 Gauchos have played only two matches at Harder Stadium and are 0-1-1 on Meredith Field. They hope to reward their fans with a victory on Friday night against a longtime nemesis.
The 13th-ranked UCLA Bruins (4-1-1) come into town for a 7 p.m. match that has regional and national ramifications.
This is one of those game that the NCAA Tournament selection committee looks at when determining at-large berths and seedings.
UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg cited the matches against Creighton (a 1-0 loss at home), Harvard (a 2-0 win at New Mexico), UCLA and Duke — all top 30 teams — as the pivotal ones on his team’s nonconference schedule.
“It’s not the bad losses that hurt you, it’s the wins that make all the difference,” he said. (The committee) looks at who has this team beaten. That’s at the top of the list on, A: Whether you should be in the playoffs, and B, be seeded.
“Regionally, nationally, this is one of those four games,” he added. “The way I look at it, we’re 1-1 in the games that really matter on our schedule, and we have UCLA and Duke at home. So, we have a great opportunity with those teams coming into town to get things right.”
The unranked Gauchos started making things right last weekend at the New Mexico Lobo Classic, where they blanked No. 6-ranked Harvard 2-0 on Friday and Buffalo, 4-0 on Sunday. Before that they’d scored only two goals in going 0-2-2, frustrating their fans and the coaches.
“The problem has been consistency,” Vom Steeg said.
He certainly was happy to see his team turn things around before facing the four-time national champions, and the team the Gauchos beat for their NCAA title in 2006.
“You definitely don’t want to play UCLA wondering what you’re doing on the field,” he said. “That part (winning twice and scoring six goals) was nice. Even though we beat Harvard we were inconsistent. I didn’t feel great about the game, although winning was important.
“I thought Sunday we really, for the first time, made the adjustments. We bought into what we’ve been saying we needed to do and, on top of that, we were able to do it for both halves. I did feel on Sunday that we finished the game with the players feeling like finally we did some things right out there.”
The Gauchos got goal-scoring production from forwards David Opoku and sophomore Sam Garza, two players who struggled to score in the first four games.
Garza has been brilliant beating people on the dribble and going in on goal, but his shots have either been off target or right at the goalkeeper. He leads the team with 23 shots, but has just three goals.
Vom Steeg said they worked on Garza’s shooting technique and thought process in front of the net.
“A lot of times with dribblers scoring the goal is the afterthought,” Vom Steeg pointed out. “The main thing is dribbling through everybody.”
To compensate for that, the coach dropped Garza back into the midfield, where he can be used more as a playmaker and creator of goals.
“From there we’re asking him to do more playmaking and more defending, and being around the ball more. We’re asking David, Joe Eubanks and Peter McGlynn to take a little bit of (the goal-scoring) load off him,” said Vom Steeg.
With Opoku, “We’re still going through with some growing pains with him,” Vom Steeg said. “The things that he does, the small plays in the game — like the pass he gave Garza for a goal against Buffalo — you don’t see that, not from a center forward.
“He’s a work in progress, but there is a lot to work with.”
The Gauchos will be playing a very young UCLA. The Bruins lost five star players off last year’s team that beat UCSB in the third round of the NCAA Tournament in Westwood. All five are now playing in Major League Soccer.
The Bruins, however, reloaded with the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, according to College Soccer News.
Prep All-Americans like Victor Chavez and Kelyn Rowe already have made a big impact on the team. Rowe leads the team with three goals. Sophomores Ryan Hollingshead and Evan Raynr are other key contributors. Hollingshead scored the game-winning goal against UCSB in last year’s NCAA playoff game.
The Bruins also have a local player, junior defender Zack Zerrerner from Santa Barbara High
“It is a talented team, obviously, but we’re playing them at a good time,” Vom Steeg said. “They’ve had some success and they’ve won some games late by doing some individual things, which UCLA is always able to do.”
The Bruins have quality wins over Notre Dame (1-0) and University of San Diego (3-2 in OT), but they lost at Indiana, 5-1, and played Cal Poly to a scoreless draw in San Luis Obispo.
“At this point, I don’t think they’re clicking. They’re still trying to put things together with a young group of players,” he added.
“I think we have an opportunity, if we put the same team together with the same energy and we move the ball like we did against Buffalo. I think as a team we can get after them on Friday night.”
