Harder Stadium crowd was bigger than 3 MLS matches

The record 15,896 fans that poured into Harder Stadium on Friday night to see UCSB beat No. 13-ranked UCLA 2-0 were part of history

The crowd marked the largest ever at the Gauchos’ home stadium, topping the previous school record of 11,214 set during a NCAA quarterfinal match against Virginia Commonwealth on Dec. 4, 2004.

It also was the largest in NCAA regular season history at an on-campus site. The top-two attendances in NCAA history were recorded when St. Louis and SIU Edwardsville played at Busch Stadium in 1973 (20,112 attended) and 1980 (22,512 attended). The attendance figure from Friday now ranks 16th among all-time Division I crowds. It is one of only three matches in the top-16 – along with the two games played at Busch Stadium – that was not an NCAA semifinal or final game.

The match was also the most highly attended on-campus event in the last quarter century at UCSB.

Impressively, the attendance at the UCSB vs. UCLA game topped the turnout at three of the eight Major League Soccer matches played over the weekend: FC Dallas at Kansas City (10,385), Columbus at New England (13,533) and Houston at D.C. United (13,828).

UCSB has led the NCAA for attendance in each of the past three seasons and set the Division I single-season record in 2009 with its average of 4,335 fans per game. The Gauchos have played in five of the top-10 highest attended NCAA regular season matches and have hosted three of those games.

NCAA Top-10 Regular Season Attendances
22,512* – St. Louis vs. SIU Edwardsville – Oct. 30, 1980
20,112* – St. Louis vs. SIU Edwardsville – Nov. 9, 1973
15,896 – UCLA at UC Santa Barbara – Sept. 24, 2010
15,000* – St. Louis vs. SIU Edwardsville – Nov. 5, 1972
12,224 – San Francisco at Fresno State – Sept. 27, 1987
11,075 – UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly – Oct. 17, 2008
10,114 – Indiana at UC Santa Barbara – Oct. 2, 2009
9,824 – UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly – Nov. 4, 2009
9,749 – Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara – Nov. 5, 2008
9,200 – Alabama A&M at Connecticut – Oct. 24, 1982

* Played at Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals’ ballpark)

UCSB has six more home matches remaining on its regular season schedule, including this Saturday’s pairing with Big West foe UC Davis and an Oct. 15 game against Duke, which will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Gauchos, who got back in the national rankings at No. 23 by College Soccer News, open Big West play on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at Cal State Fullerton.