Dellinger and Groessl Lead the Way in Historic Upset Over Redlands

Friday, October 16

Redlands, CA

7:00 PM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

5-3-4

University of Redlands

8-2-5

Team	1	2	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	1	2	3
Redlands	1	0	1

Dellinger and Groessl Lead the Way in Historic Upset Over Redlands

10/16/2026 10:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

REDLANDS, Calif – The UC Santa Cruz men's soccer team won in historic fashion on Friday night in a 3-1 upset versus No. 17 University of Redlands. The Banana Slugs' triumphant victory gives them their first victory over the Bulldogs since November 13th, 2004, ending an almost 22-year drought. Aidan Dellinger and Soren Groessl led the charge for the UCSC from the field, and head coach Michael Runeare led from the sidelines to earn his first win over Redlands in his career at UC Santa Cruz. Tobias Jacobson-Bell played a phenomenal performance in goal for the Slugs, collecting eight saves in the night in multiple high-pressure situations in the final minutes. His performance in goal doubled his previous season high of four saves in goal and is the second highest of his career, only behind the a game in the 2025 season versus Southwestern (TX) where he brought in 10 saves. Up next, UCSC will travel to face University of La Verne on Oct. 22 at 7:00pm.

How it Happened
Groessl came out firing to open the match, taking two early shots to get the Banana Slugs fired up on offense. Luke Williams would follow Groessl's lead, pushing the Bulldogs in goal early in the contest. The physicality of the game began to ramp up, enough to force a foul call on Redlands to give UC Santa Cruz a penalty kick. As a captain for UCSC, Groessl stepped up to the plate to send the first goal of the game in to give UCSC a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute. Redlands settled in to respond to the Slugs' attack and took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to send in the tying goal going into halftime.

The second half opened with even more physical calls and yellow cards, specifically for the Bulldogs. Redlands collected three yellow cards between the 58th and 60th minute as UCSC continued to push the Bulldogs in every capacity of the game. In a beautiful pass set up by Michael Braun, Dellinger sent the leading goal to put the Slugs up one in the 73rd minute. Only six minutes later did UC Santa Cruz respond with the silencing goal to put the Banana Slugs up 3-1, courtesy of Dellinger's second goal of the night. Jacobson-Bell faced a fiery squad in Redlands during the final minutes and secured six big-time stops in goal during the moments that mattered for UCSC.