IRVINE, Calif. (KEYT) - The No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara Men's Soccer team had only won in Irvine once in the last 10 years and never won a Big West Championship game on the road before Saturday night's semifinal in Orange County and well, those things are technically both still true. Not that the Gauchos will care. A clutch save from Owen Beninga turned 110 minutes of toil into penalty-kick triumph, as Santa Barbara advanced via the shootout, 4-2, after a 0-0 draw with No. 2 seed UC Irvine. With No. 4 seed Cal State Bakersfield winning earlier in the day, the Gauchos will now get to host The Big West Championship final for the third straight year, welcoming the Roadrunners to Harder Stadium on Friday, Nov. 13 for the crowning contest.
Two weeks prior, Santa Barbara had left Irvine frustrated after a match that saw them give up an early goal seemingly out of nothing, struggle to create opportunities and eventually fail to respond in a 1-0 defeat. Saturday night, the script was flipped. The hosting Anteaters controlled the first half, preventing the Gauchos from getting a single shot, let alone a shot on target, for 50 minutes. It was Santa Barbara's turn to play dogged defense and keep the Anteaters out. And with their full first-choice back five of Colby Renton, Calle Mollerberg, Drew Kamienski, Viggo Gustavsson and Peleg Brown — three of those All-Big West honorees this season — the Gauchos did just that.
It took 42 minutes before Beninga was called into action for something more than a routine save, getting down to his left and smothering a shot aimed for the far corner after an Anteater breakaway. Two minutes later, he scrambled and did just enough to recover after a bad hop nearly let an onrushing Anteater take the ball away from him, and in the final minute before halftime, the rock-solid Kamienski made an important block inside the penalty area. Those interventions were enough to keep the game scoreless at halftime, and then the second half started to deliver the real fireworks.
When the Gauchos finally did get their first shot of the game, it was from about 35 yards out and yet nearly beat the goalkeeper, Kaden Standish's effort sending the UCI netminder scrambling for his far post before ultimately going wide. Then, in the 54th minute, the match turned on its head when the Anteaters' First Team All-Big West center back received a second yellow after a VAR review and was sent off.
All of the sudden, Santa Barbara had an extra player to help break down Irvine's stubborn defense. Even then, the Gauchos only tested the Anteater goalkeeper three times, all within a span of eight minutes. Ty Branigan forced the first save in the 76th minute, then Bjornsson stung the keeper's palms with a drive from the top of the penalty area. Mollerberg may have thought he won the game in the 85th minute as his shot fizzed towards the far corner, only for the Irvine netminder to make the save of the night (to that point) diving down to his right. There was also a moment in the 62nd minute when Kamienski played a beautiful pass through the Anteaters lines to set Donovan Sessoms up one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only for a defender to fly in at the last minute and make the block.
And there was action at the other end too, with the Anteaters nearly scoring what would have been a winner in the 73rd minute, only to hit the post. And just one minute after the Irvine goalkeeper had so brilliantly denied Mollerberg, Beninga matched his counterpart with a near-identical save to keep the home team from stealing a win.
Neither team managed to test the other's keeper during the two 10-minute overtime halves, sending the squads into the crucible that is a penalty shootout. Santa Barbara took first and scored, with Standish converting his spot-kick. Irvine answered by making their first, then Sessoms scored for Santa Barbara to keep the Gauchos in the driver's seat. Then came the pivotal moment. Irvine sent up a player who had not seen a minute of action in the match to take their second kick, and Beninga guessed the right way, launched his big, six-foot-four frame to his right and made the save. Bjornsson kicked third for the Gauchos and scored to cement the advantage. Irvine made its third kick, then Santa Barbara sent a player with no game minutes of their own. Mateos Carvalho stepped up and blasted his penalty into the back of the net. Irvine had no more margin for error, so when the Anteaters' fourth kick taker bounced his shot off the top of the crossbar, the Gauchos could celebrate knowing a final at home awaits them on Friday night.
UP NEXTAt the time of writing, Friday's Big West Championship Final is set to kick off at 7 p.m. from Harder Stadium. Tickets will be on sale soon at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets and through The Big West. Students from UC Santa Barbara and all Big West member institutions will receive free admission to the match with their valid campus ID.
(Article Courtesy of UCSB AThletics).
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