Eight Banana Slugs Score in Lopsided 8-1 Win

Wednesday, October 14

Santa Cruz, CA

3:00 PM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

4-3-4, 0-0-0

Lincoln University

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Lincoln (CA)	1	0	1
UC Santa Cruz	4	4	8

10/14/2026 6:05:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SANTA CRUZ, Calif – The UC Santa Cruz men's soccer team won at home in a lopsided 8-1 victory versus Lincoln University. Eight different Banana Slugs found the net in today's contest, the first of which coming from Erik Moreno Herrera, who now leads the team with four goals for the season. Moreno Herrera also assisted two goals in the afternoon for a complete contest. Four UCSC Santa Cruz players earned their first goal of the season, including: Roman Avagimov, Giovanny Hernandez Lopez, Teo Cristea, and Chad Lyon. Up next, UC Santa Cruz will travel to University of Redlands on Friday, Oct. 16th at 7:00pm.

How it Happened:
UC Santa Cruz opened the match pushing the offense from the jump. Earning their first corner kick just over three minutes into the contest, UCSC came prepared to score early. Moreno Herrera started the scoring trend after stealing a ball in Lincoln's half during the fifth minute of play. Soren Groessl and Moreno Herrera continued to pressure the defense until Oliver Gill found the net for the Slugs up next. After a trio of shot attempts for UCSC, they connected 13 minutes later thanks to Avagimov's first goal of the 2026 season. The Banana Slugs took their foot off the gas pedal holding a comfortable lead and had a defensive lapse to give Lincoln a window to score in the 31st minute. With 10 subs rotating in after the goal, a near-fresh set of slugs came in to close the half, one of which was Hernandez-Lopez in the 42nd minute. The half ended at 4-1 with UCSC outshooting Lincoln 12-2 in shot attempts.

Half number two opened with a corner kick for UC Santa Cruz less than a minute into action resuming. After Lincoln took their first shot of the half, Cristea responded for the Slugs and sent in a ball during the 49th minute to earn his first goal of his collegiate career. Less than 10 minutes later with subs and a shot in between, Oneta Massimiliano sent in his second goal of the year for UCSC. The Slugs went quiet after taking a 6-1 lead, giving the illusion that they were done for the night. Kotetsu Horike had more to say for the Slugs and struck in a goal during the 85th minute on an assist by Moreno Herrera. Chad Lyon closed out the night for UCSC on a goal assisted by Moreno Herrera with just over two minutes remaining in the match.