Banana Slugs Fall to No. 1 Ranked Washington University

Saturday, September 19

St. Louis, MO.

11:00 AM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

2-3-0, 0-0-0

Washington University in St. Louis

6-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	0	0	0
WashU	1	3	4

9/19/2026 3:05:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

ST. LOUIS, MO - UC Santa Cruz women's soccer fell to no. 1 ranked Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon in a score of 4-0. UCSC kept the Bears out of the net for over twenty minutes into the match, but once Washington University put the pieces together, the top-ranked team in the nation began to play with confidence and take over. Tyler Beaman made a season-debut in goal to close out the game and picked up three saves in 12 minutes of action. Up next, UC Santa Cruz will stay in St. Louis to face DePauw University on Sunday, Sept. 20th.

How It Happened
A slow start to the match brought no shots by either team until the Bears kicked one in the 15th minute, giving UC Santa Cruz time early to get settled in amongst the level of play of the top-ranked Washington University squad. The Banana Slugs struggled to find shot opportunities throughout the match as Amaya Espardinez took UCSC's only shot of the game in the 19th minute. Once the shots started for Washington University, they kept firing for the Bears, leading to their first goal in the 22nd minute. UCSC remained strong against the eight other shots in the first half for the Bears, allowing only the one goal to break through in the first 45.

Both teams once again took their time settling into the half, but the Bears found the gap in the Banana Slug's defense to score their first goal of the second half in the 56th minute. After both teams made large amounts of substitutions, WashU continued their foot on the gas pedal against UCSC, forcing the Banana Slugs to remain on defense for most of the time remaining. Goal three for the Bears came in the 72nd minute, with the final goal coming less than three minutes later for WashU.