The UCSB men’s soccer team has attracted the largest crowds in the NCAA to Harder Stadium for six straight years.
UC Santa Barbara has officially earned the title of NCAA Division I national attendance leader for the sixth consecutive year.
The men’s soccer team hosted nine home matches during the 2012 campaign and welcomed a grand total of 49,885 fans to Harder Stadium for an average of 5,543 fans per game.
Connecticut (4,228 fans per game), Maryland (3,153 fans per game), Akron (2,778) and Cal Poly (2,709) currently rounded out the top-five. This marks the sixth consecutive year that UCSB and Cal Poly have both ranked in the top-10 for average attendance, dating back to the 2007 season.
The nation’s highest attended 2012 game was the Oct. 19 match between UCSB and visiting Cal Poly, which saw 13,467 fans enter Harder Stadium. The Gauchos also hosted the third and fourth highest attended games against UC Irvine (7,822 fans) and UCLA (7,542 fans). UCSB also played in the second-highest attended game at Cal Poly on Nov. 3, when the Mustangs hosted a sellout crowd of 11,075.
UCSB has led the nation in average attendance for six consecutive seasons. In 2007, the year after the Gauchos captured the program’s first NCAA title, UCSB averaged 3,435 fans and in 2008, that average improved to 3,444. The Gauchos’ 2009 attendance set a new NCAA record with 4,335 fans per game, which they best in 2010 with 5,873. Last season, UCSB saw an average of 4,782 fans per game.
The UCSB men’s soccer team will hold its annual banquet to celebrate the 2012 season on Sunday, January 20 at 6 p.m. in the Intercollegiate Athletics Building’s Phil Womble Hall of Champions.
