SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — With a heavy fog blanketing the field at Harder Stadium on Wednesday night, the Sacramento State men's soccer team was similarly covered by host UC Santa Barbara, which scored twice in the first half and added a penalty in the second half en route to a 3-0 victory.

The loss dropped the Hornets to 3-9-4 overall and 0-3-4 in Big West Conference play heading into their 2023 home finale on Saturday (Oct. 21) against UC Irvine at 3 p.m. The Gauchos picked up three points in the league standings with the win, moving to 9-6-1 overall and 4-2-1 in conference.

With visibility at a premium all night, junior goalkeeper Mac Learned finished the night by adding eight saves to his nation-leading total, stopping four shots in each half. The Lincoln, Calif., native now has 86 stops on the year, moving into a tie with Gary Davis (1994) and Ryan Duncan (1998) for ninth on the program's single-season list.

UCSB got on the board early, scoring in the 14th minute on a goal by Mikkel Goeling, who added a second just over eight minutes later in the 23rd minute for the 2-0 lead at the break. Lucas Gonzalez then capped the scoring with a goal in the 60th minute after he was fouled in the box and converted the ensuing penalty for the final tally.

Titus Washington, Zac Giles, and Hasan Alsakati, each forced Gaucho keeper Leroy Zeller into saves in the first half, and Washington had a golden opportunity to break up the shutout at the 86-minute mark, finding himself one-on-one with Zeller, but the UCSB netminder was able to just push the ball wide to keep the clean sheet.

The Gauchos held a 15-6 shot advantage on the night, including an 11-4 lead in shots on goal. Sacramento State managed seven corners on the night, but could not convert on the set pieces. Six different Hornets accounted for the team's shot total.

Prior to kick-off against the Anteaters on Saturday, Sacramento State will honor its nine departing seniors in front of the hometown faithful for the final time at approximately 2:45 p.m.