Groessl Goal Gives UC Santa Cruz a 1-0 Victory

Sunday, September 27

San Antonio, TX

10:00 AM PT | 12:00 PM CT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

2-3-3, 0-0-0

Texas Lutheran University

2-6-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	0	1	1
Texas Lutheran	0	0	0

9/27/2026 12:28:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, TX – The UC Santa Cruz men's soccer team ended their weekend in Texas with a 1-0 win against Texas Lutheran University. The only goal of the contest came from Soren Groessl in the 55th minute of play on a fast break assist from Kotetsu Horike. Groessl's score is the second of his senior season with the Banana Slugs with his first goal scored at Caltech on Sept. 6th, and the assist for Horike is his first recorded of the season. UC Santa Cruz was outshot in the opening half 4-5, but turned up the heat in the second half to end the game with a 14-9 advantage as each team totaled four shots on goal. Tobias Jacobson-Bell recorded his season high of four saves and earned his fourth shutout of the year in the win. Up next, UC Santa Cruz men's soccer will travel to St. Paul, MN to face Bethel University. Their matchup takes place Friday, October 2nd at 4:00pm CT, 2:00pm PT.

How It Happened:
UCSC opened the match with offensive plays that shook TLU early on. The Bulldogs demonstrated defensive miscues to the Banana Slug's early pushes, but no scores came from the early efforts for UCSC. After the opening struggles, TLU started to challenge Tobias Jacobson-Bell in the net for the Banana Slugs, forcing early saves on a handful of sequential corner kick opportunities. The shots stayed firing for the Bulldogs in the opening half, but UCSC's defense kept turning the shot opportunities into missed opportunities. The best shot attempt for UC Santa Cruz in the opening 45 was a free kick just outside the box during the 33rd minute, but the ball was sent high and wide to keep the scoreboard empty. Jacobson-Bell gathered all four of his saves in the first half, and UCSC was outshot by the Bulldogs 5-4.

The Banana Slugs came out into the second half with tenacity as Groessl, Erik Moreno Herrera, Horike, and Michael Braun each took a shot in the opening five minutes of the half. In their fifth shot of the half, UCSC sent the first goal of the game sailing into the back of the net on a Groessl score and Horike assist in the box. The Banana Slugs had all the momentum coming into the second half, and the goal came off a fast-break opportunity that was perfectly executed to strike first onto the scoreboard. The Banana Slugs continued to showcase control in the game after their goal and ended up outshooting the Bulldogs 10-4 in the second half of action.