UC Santa Barbara Men’s Soccer Defeats Cal State Northridge 4-3

The UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer team took over sole possession of first place in the Big West Standings with a 4-3 victory over Cal State Northridge on Wednesday night.

Kaden Standish, Nicolas Willumsen, Nemo Philip and Alexis Ledoux were the Gaucho goal scorers. UC Santa Barbara is now in position to clinch the Big West Regular Season Championship as early as Saturday if results break the right way.

“We went into halftime saying, ‘you know, we’re going to need two more goals here,’ so we kept attacking. Obviously we knew Alexis’ goal was going to be huge, but yeah, we struggled trying to hold them up in midfield,” said UC Santa Barbara coach Tim Vom Steeg. “At this point, a win is a win and that’s what we said, whatever it takes to get it done, let’s win the game.”

The Gauchos were clinging to a 3-2 lead at halftime, but a moment of brilliance by Ledoux in the 65th minute broke the match open. Ledoux gathered a clearance from Caden Vom Steeg on the run near midfield with green space in front of him, two defenders caught up to him near the 18-yard box, but he converted the chance with a low right-footed shot into the far corner. 

The goal was Ledoux’s 13th of the season, which puts him among the national leaders.

The visiting Matadors cut their deficit to 4-3 with a goal by Deryk Jones Jr. in the 78th minute, but the Gauchos were able to hold on down the stretch, improving their record to 10-3-3 overall this season and 4-1-2 in Big West play