Groessl Brace Not Enough to Get Past the Warriors - University of California, Santa Cruz

Saturday, October 24

Santa Barbara, CA

2:00 PM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

5-4-5, 0-0-0

Westmont College

7-6-5, 4-1-2

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

10/24/2026 8:07:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif – The UC Santa Cruz men's soccer team fell to NCAA DII Westmont College 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in the Banana Slugs' last regular season away contest. Captain Soren Groessl continued to demonstrate his dominance on the pitch as he scored both goals in the matchup to secure his first brace and sixth goal of the year. Groessl is now two goals away from tying his single season record of eight goals that he earned in the 2025 season. UC Santa Cruz will host Azusa Pacific University next Saturday, Oct. 31st at 12:00pm for a spooky senior day and their last regular season game before the Coast-to-Coast Conference Tournament.

UC Santa Cruz was put up the challenge immediately, as Westmont College was pressing the Banana Slugs from the start of the contest. After a handful of free kicks in the game from both teams, the Warriors took advantage of their free kick opportunity to send the first ball into the back of the net in the fourth minute of action. There wasn't another shot taken by either team until the Slugs' Roman Avagimov fired one out in the 18th minute, but Westmont continued to stay strong on the defensive side. Another shot attempt by Aidan Dellinger gave UC Santa Cruz a chance to tie up the game, but the ball could not get past the Westmont wall in goal. The Banana Slugs made six substitutions at once midway through the half to get some fresh legs in to help score, but UCSC could not put the pieces together to secure a first half goal. The first half ended in a 3-3 tie in shot attempts with Westmont leading scores at 1-0.

The Banana Slugs were immediately challenged again in the opening of the second 45 as Westmont scored in the 48th minute, giving déjà vu to the first half goals, both in the fourth minute of the halves. Now facing a 0-2 deficit, UC Santa Cruz had to start taking challenges offensively to put a dent in the comeback. UCSC was fouled on a breakaway run in the penalty box, giving Groessl a free kick and chance to strike for the Slugs. Groessl snuck in the penalty kick to help bring the Banana Slugs back within one goal in the 63rd minute with plenty of time to keep the offense on a roll. Westmont would not let UCSC's momentum stay for long, as they scored their third and final goal of the game in the 68th minute to restore the two-score deficit for UCSC. With the final efforts in play as time began to tick away, the Banana Slugs showcased they still had more to give, as Groessl scored his second goal of the match in the 87th minute. Dellinger would take one final shot for the Slugs shortly after Groessl's goal, but the time expired before UCSC could find the goal for a third time.