The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team is an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Ki ...

team composed of student-athletes attending the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. The Gauchos play their home matches at Harder Stadium. Like most of the other

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I ...

athletic teams, the men's soccer team competes in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacifi ...

. The UCSB Gauchos won the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The program has produced a total of 19 All-American selections, all but one of which since 2002, and over 60 players who have gone on to play professionally or represent their senior national teams. Eash season from 2007 to 2015, the Gauchos were recognized by the NCAA as the men's attendance champions by average attendance (men's and women's inclusive across Division I, II, and III) – the longest such recorded streak in the NCAA record books. The program holds the top six all-time NCAA soccer records for largest regular season attendances at on-campus venues (men's and women's inclusive across Division I, II, and III). This is highlighted by the top all-time mark of 15,896 fans packed into Harder Stadium on September 24, 2010, when UC Santa Barbara hosted UCLA for their regular season match, despite the Santa Barbara County Fire Marshal turning fans away at the gates for fear of filling the stadium over capacity.

History

Humble beginnings

UC Santa Barbara fielded its first men's soccer team in 1966, but they didn't compete in the Big West Conference until 1983. The Gauchos had mixed success, with good seasons (1983, 1988) alongside bad seasons (1991, 1992), but never found prolonged stretches of success or failure. The Big West Conference stopped sponsoring men's soccer after the 1991 season, but re-instituted it prior to the 2001 season. During this period, UCSB competed in the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

. The return of soccer to the Big West Conference marked the rough beginning of the Gauchos' greatest success to date.

Vom Steeg era

In January 1999, UC Santa Barbara's athletic director,

Gary Cunningham Gary Cunningham is an American former basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1977 to 1979, guiding the UCLA Bruins to a ...

, was successfully able to hire former UCSB and professional soccer player,

Tim Vom Steeg Timothy Harold Vom Steeg (born October 29, 1966) is an American collegiate soccer head coach who is currently with the University of California, Santa Barbara men's soccer team. He has been with the Gauchos since 1999 and is the most successful ...

, away from Santa Barbara City College to lead the Gauchos' program. The Gauchos won the 2001 Big West Conference championship for the first time in their history, but missed out on a trip to the NCAA Tournament since the Big West Conference was ineligible for an automatic bid. UC Santa Barbara have won eight Big West regular season championships (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014) and have won the Big West tournament in 2010.

2004 NCAA Championships

The Gauchos burst on to the national scene in 2004 during their run at the 2004 NCAA Championship. The showing in this tournament established UC Santa Barbara as a force in college soccer, with UCSB marching all the way to the finals before losing out on penalties to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

2006 NCAA Championships

UCSB men's soccer team at the White House 2007-06-18

The crowning achievement of the men's soccer program took place in 2006, where UCSB won the NCAA Division I Championship in a 2-1 decision over

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. It marked the program's first championship and only the university's second athletics championship (1979 Men's Water Polo). At one point during the season, UCSB's record stood at 7–6 with dim prospects for postseason glory. However, a 5-1 stretch to close out the regular season raised morale. The Gauchos made the NCAA Tournament as an unseeded team. During their championship run, the unseeded Gauchos defeated

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

at home, then #1 ranked/#3 seeded SMU followed by Old Dominion on the road, and finally Northwestern before an NCAA season high 8,784 people at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara. This propelled the Gauchos into the Final Four and earned them a trip to the College Cup held at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. UCSB needed extra time to defeat #2 seed Wake Forest 0-0 (4-3 on penalties) in their first match of the College Cup. The final was a matchup between Southern California teams as UCLA advanced on a 4–0 win over

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. The #8 ranked/#8 seeded Bruins served as the final team to fall to the Gauchos by a score of 2–1 to complete UCSB's magical season.

Players

Current squad

Notable former players

:Players noted below, with years at UCSB in parentheses, have represented their senior national team or played professionally.

Coaching staff

Current technical staff

Head coaches

The Blue-Green Rivalry

Chosen as the #1 "Greatest Rivalry In College Soccer" by ''CollegeSoccerNews.com'', the main rival of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos soccer team is the Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer team. The rivalry is a part of the larger Blue–Green Rivalry, which encompasses all sports from the two schools. With both schools located on the Central Coast less than 100 miles apart, attendance has risen dramatically following the Gauchos' 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The crowds of these games are record-setting and are among the highest regular season games in NCAA college soccer history.

Postseason

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 19–11 through twelve appearances.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Barbara 1966 establishments in California Association football clubs established in 1966