SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – North Florida men's soccer fell in a road battle at UC Santa Barbara, 3-0, at Harder Stadium on Thursday night. 

It marked a battle of a pair of 2024 NCAA Tournament teams and North Florida was the first team from the state of Florida to travel to Harder Stadium to battle UC Santa Barbara. 

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Luciano Natoli posted four saves in goal, his third-straight match with three or more saves, with a pair of saves in each half. 18 Ospreys logged action in the match.

North Florida threatened with a pair of shots in the 12th minute when junior defender Alfie Mattocks notched a shot blocked from the left side of the 18-yard box and redshirt senior forward David Perez barely missed the right side of the frame on a nearby strike that went wide.

One of North Florida's best opportunities to strike first occurred in the 26th minute when redshirt senior Jaxon Reinhardt got behind the Gauchos' backline on a play that was whistled offsides. UC Santa Barbara scored in the 34th minute to secure the lead. 

Sophomore midfielder Anton Khelil placed a cross into the box and sophomore forward Geraldo Neto headed the bid right over the top of the frame in the 53rd minute. It was one of three shots in the opening seven minutes of the second half for North Florida, who secured offensive momentum right out of the halftime break. 

North Florida played the final third of the match with 10 players after Barnett was issued a red card in 60th minute. The match featured a combined 31 fouls.

Sophomore forward Kaiss Mansouri placed a great through ball to Reinhardt in the 73rd minute on an attempt for the equalizer, but the shot was blocked. 

UC Santa Barbara extended its lead with goals in the 74th minute and 89th minute. 

North Florida makes the trip to Irvine, Calif. to battle RV UC Irvine on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET at Anteater Stadium.