MORAGA, Calif. — No. 10 Saint Mary's learned who they will face in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday as they watched No. 22 UC Santa Barbara defeat Cal 3-1 at home to advance. The Gauchos will now make the trek north to Moraga for a Sunday showdown beginning at 1 p.m. 

Tickets for the contest can be purchased by clicking here or on the day of the game. 

BACK-TO-BACK
The Gaels will be making their second straight trip to the postseason after advancing to the Round of 16 last year.

After earning a first round bye in 2018, the Gaels took on Oregon State at Fresno Pacific University as poor air-quality conditions forced the game to be moved south. Anders Engebretsen would deliver the game-winning goal in that match in the 81st minute. 

SMC would then face Stanford in Moraga in the next round in front of a raucous crowd of more than 2,700 fans. Despite outshooting the Cardinal 21-8 in the match, Saint Mary's couldn't scratch a goal across and the scoreless affair would head to penalty kicks to decide the winner. Stanford converted all four of their attempts to end the Gaels' season with a 18-0-2 record. 

DOMINATING THE WCC
Saint Mary's went 7-0 in conference play this year, marking the first time any West Coast Conference team has ever accomplished the feat. Saint Mary's outscored conference opponents 17-2 in those seven matches and allowed fewer than seven shots per contest on average. 

GAELS RACK UP ALL-WCC AWARDS
Saint Mary's had nine players named all-conference this week including four members who earned the top distinction at their position. Anders Engebretsen was named Co-Player of the Year, Filippo Zattarin earned Defensive Player of the Year, Remi Prier was chosen as Goalkeeper of the Year, and head coach Adam Cooper received his fourth WCC Coach of the Year honor. 

Six of the 11 First Team selections went to Gaels. In addition to Engebretsen, Zattarin, and Prieur, Jake Rudel, Sebastian Schacht, and Jakub Svhelik were honored with the award. Joseph Restani and James Person were named to the Second Team while Valentin Kurz found his name on the All-Freshman Team. 

It was just the second time in program history a Gael had been named Player of the Year and the second straight year that nine different Gaels were named all-conference. 

ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara is 13-4-4 this year and the team went 4-1-2 in Big West action. The Gauchos scored twice in the second half to seal their 3-1 win over the Golden Bears last night and have won three of their past four matches. 

UCSB have four players with at least 20 points this season and are led by senior forward Will Baynham who has eight goals and eight assists for a team-high 24 points. Freshman midfielder Finn Ballard McBride leads the team with nine goals on just 18 shots. Goalkeeper Ben Roach has started all 21 matches for the Gauchos and has 10 shutouts and a 0.95 goals-against average this season. 

Saint Mary's and UCSB have met in each of the past three seasons with the teams combing to score only two goals in those matches. The Gaels got the last laugh in 2018 as Jakub Svehlik buried a golden goal during the second overtime session to give SMC the 1-0 win in Moraga. 

LAST TIME OUT
No. 11 Saint Mary's finished their regular season on a high note on Saturday as they defeated Portland 5-1 to complete the year with a perfect 7-0 conference record for the first time in program history. 

Anders Engebretsen dominated on the field on Senior Day as he recorded three of the Gaels' five goals to record a hat trick. Engebretsen recorded his first tally off a penalty kick in the 35th minute and would go on to record the fourth goal of the day after sneaking the ball past the goalie within the first minute of the second half. The Oslo, Norway native completed the hat trick in the 60th minute off a second penalty kick following a foul on Jake Rudel. 

The senior Rudel also had a solid day as he put the Gaels on the board in the 30th minute of action when he carried the ball through two Portland defenders and sent it into the right netting for the first goal of the contest. Rudel led the Gaels in their strong offensive performance as he posted four shots with three coming on frame. 

In the 36th minute of play, Younes Dayekh rocketed the ball over two Pilot defenders to Phillipe Van der Lof allowing him to easily tap the ball into the back of the net in. The assist for Dayekh was his second of the year as well as Van der Lof's second goal of the season.