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

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. The Gauchos play their home matches at

Harder Stadium Harder Stadium is a 17,000-seat, outdoor multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California. It serves as the on-campus soccer stadium for both ...

. Like most of the other

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing 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 i ...

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

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

. The UCSB Gauchos won the

2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship The 2006 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a tournament of 48 teams from NCAA Division I who played for the NCAA Championship in soccer. The College Cup Final Four was held at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. All the other game ...

. The program has produced 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. Each 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 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 before 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 has added members as far east as Massachusetts. The conference participates at the NCAA Divisio ...

. 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 (born c. 1940/1941) 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 ...

, was successfully able to hire former UCSB and professional soccer player, Tim Vom Steeg, away from

Santa Barbara City College Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is a public community college in Santa Barbara, California. It opened in 1909 and is located on a campus. History Santa Barbara City College was established by the Santa Barbara High School District in 1909, m ...

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 onto 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 to the finals before losing out on penalties to

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

2006 NCAA Championships

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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. 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 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, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

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

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 St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. 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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. 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

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 The Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer program represents the Cal Poly Mustangs of California Polytechnic State University in men's soccer at the NCAA Division I level. Like most teams from Cal Poly, they play in the Big West Conference. Since beco ...

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 23–13–1 through fifteen appearances.

References

External links

* {{Big West Conference men's soccer navbox 1966 establishments in California Association football clubs established in 1966