Gauchos Return Home to Host Tritons, Travel to Riverside – University of California, Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara Women’s Soccer jumps into their second week of Big West matchups with two contests this week. The Blue and Gold will host UC San Diego at home on Thursday before hitting the road for UC Riverside on Sunday.

LAST TIME OUT

The Gauchos walked away with a big win at Cal Poly last Thursday. Under some heavy rain, both teams battled through to the 79th minute when Jessica Carlton found the back of the net to win the match 1-0 for the Gauchos. For the first time since 2015, Santa Barbara secured a win in the Blue-Green Rivalry.

SCOUTING THE TRITONS

UC San Diego comes into this week 2-6-2 after they were unable to find a win last week in their first conference and last non-conference matches of the season. Their Big West matchup with UC Irvine ended in a 0-0 draw on Thursday. During their final non-conference match on Sunday, a late goal from Pacific landed them a 1-0 loss.

Ginny Fronk started as the goalkeeper for the front end of matches for the Tritons and has secured 26 saves in six games. Bella Barretto appeared in the following five matchups recording 18 saves. Raquel Kalpakoff has led the offensive attack, bringing in four total goals this season so far. She will certainly be the attacker the Gaucho defense will need to keep an eye on.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS

UC Riverside has yet to see a win in their last four games including their first Big West matchup at Long Beach State on Sunday. The 3-0 loss brings their record to 2-8 for the season. Their second week of conference matchups starts with Cal Poly on Thursday with whom the Gauchos just clinched a 1-0 win over.

Goalkeeper Allee Grashoff has made 42 saves in eight games leading the Highlanders to their two wins on record. Riverside has also started freshman goalkeeper Christina Sidoti twice recording 11 saves. Both will be tough goalkeepers to break through this weekend. 

FOLLOW ALONG

The Gauchos will kick off against UC San Diego on Thursday, Sept. 26 at Harder Stadium at 6 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+ and live stats on ucsbgauchos.com. The Sunday match at UC Riverside will kickoff at 11 a.m. and will also be streamed live on ESPN+.