Seven official matches out of seven, five starts, a goal on the first shot attempt of his career and an award no one had ever won before. Simone Ferrieri’s first month in America at UC Santa Barbara is best told through the numbers.
A Goal in His Debut
August 21, Harder Stadium, opening day of the season against San Jose State. In the 43rd minute Peleg Brown took a corner kick, Ferrieri broke free from his marker at the far post and scored with a header. It was his first goal in American college soccer, in his first official match. Santa Barbara won 3-0 without conceding.
The university’s release described it this way: he got free of his marker on the corner kick and finished the play with a clean header.
The First Rookie of the Week in Big West History
On Monday, August 24, the Big West Conference named him Rookie of the Week. The award is new, introduced in 2026 to replace the former Freshman of the Week, and is open to players in their first season of college soccer regardless of class year. Ferrieri is the first player in conference history to win it. The reason: his goal and the clean sheet in the season-opening win.
Game by Game
Ferrieri has played in every official match the Gauchos have played so far.
- August 21, San Jose State, 3-0 win: started, 59 minutes, 1 goal
- August 27, Marshall, 1-1 tie: started, 57 minutes
- August 31, San Diego, 1-1 tie: started, 45 minutes
- September 4, Cornell, 2-1 loss: off the bench, 3 minutes
- September 7, Rutgers, 1-0 win: off the bench, 40 minutes
- September 12, Grand Canyon, 2-1 win: started, 40 minutes
- September 17, San Diego State, 2-0 win: started, 45 minutes
Total: 7 appearances, 5 starts, 289 minutes, 1 goal on his only shot attempt of the entire season.
His Role
He plays right back, with license to get forward. The university put it clearly: in addition to his defensive duties, Ferrieri often pushes forward, as the Gauchos ask of their outside backs, and he does it with personality, with overlapping runs down the right flank that often put him in crossing positions.
Against San Diego, in the 16th minute, he delivered the cross for Kaden Standish’s header. Against San Diego State he collected an 80-meter diagonal ball from Peleg Brown and played a low ball back to the penalty spot. Head coach Tim Vom Steeg rotates his fullbacks regularly: in the last three matches Ferrieri played forty, forty and forty-five minutes.
The Team
Santa Barbara stands at four wins, two ties and one loss, with eleven goals scored and five conceded, two of them on penalties, and three shutouts. The ties came against Marshall and San Diego, at the time ranked No. 12 and No. 2 in the nation. Goalkeeper Owen Beninga has a 0.71 goals-against average and an 82 percent save percentage. The Gauchos are ranked No. 25 in the country and were picked as Big West favorites in the preseason poll.
What’s Next
Oregon State visits on September 20. On September 25 the Gauchos travel to Cal Poly for the most heated rivalry in central California. On September 30 conference play begins against Sacramento State, and from then on every point counts toward qualifying for the national tournament, where the Gauchos have a long history.
From Frosinone to California
Ferrieri came up through Frosinone’s youth academy. Before leaving for the United States he played two seasons in Serie D, with Vado and Varese, totaling 65 appearances with 3 goals and 6 assists. Standing 188 centimeters (6-foot-2) and right-footed, he arrived in Santa Barbara in March along with five other newcomers, to fill the gap on the right flank left by the graduation of Haruki Utsumi.
Simone is one of our athletes. The path he took is the one we offer to everyone who joins the program: a solid playing career in Italy, a carefully built profile and a presentation to American coaches that highlights what a team really needs at that specific moment. He did the rest himself, at the far post, in the 43rd minute of his first match.
Player card
- Position: right back, No. 23
- Previous clubs: Frosinone, Vado, Varese
- University: University of California, Santa Barbara
- Team: Gauchos, Big West Conference
- 2026 season: 7 appearances, 5 starts, 289 minutes, 1 goal
- Honors: Big West Conference Rookie of the Week, August 24, 2026
Want to follow the same path? Find out how soccer scholarships in the USA work and how to earn one with YWC.
