BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Senior Robert Mejia finished with a pair of goals and sophomore Maximilian Arfsten added a goal and an assist on Wednesday night, helping the UC Davis men's soccer team avenge an earlier loss to CSU Bakersfield exactly two weeks ago with a 3-1 victory in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Main Soccer Field in Bakersfield, Calif.

After clinching a berth in the tournament on the final day of the regular season, the defending conference tournament champions, seeded fifth in this year's event, evened their record at 9-9-1 overall on the year and advanced to face top-seeded UC Santa Barbara -- which handed the Aggies a 4-1 defeat back on Oct. 2 in Northern California -- on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 7 p.m. in Santa Barbara.

Saturday marks the fourth all-time meeting between the Aggies and the Gauchos in the Big West Tournament, with UC Davis defeating UCSB in the 2019 championship match at home by a 2-0 score. UC Santa Barbara posted semifinal wins in the first two meetings by the score of 2-1 in 2011 and 1-0 in 2015 -- both played in Santa Barbara.

The fourth-seeded Roadrunners ended their season at 6-10-1 overall with the loss.

Having already broken the Aggies' hearts in double overtime back on Oct. 20 on a pair of goals by Tom Shepherd -- the last coming just over three minutes into the second extra period -- it was Shepherd again who put his team in front on Wednesday night, staking CSU Bakersfield to the 1-0 lead in the 19th minute with his fourth goal of the year -- and his first score since that win over UC Davis -- to make it 1-0.

That was enough for the Aggies, who came roaring back to score three answered goals en route to the win, finding the back of the net twice within a four-minute span in the first half and adding a third score midway through the second half to give the Aggies some breathing room.

It was Mejia who struck first in the 33rd minute off a pass from Max Glasser for his fourth of the year to tie the match at 1-1, before Arfsten put UC Davis ahead for good in the 37th minute, converting off a pass from Grant Fidler for his eighth goal of the campaign and a 2-1 lead. Glasser's assist was his sixth of the year, while Fidler collected his fifth helper of 2021.

The score remained that way through the break until Mejia gave the Aggies some breathing room at the 64-minute mark, turning an Arfsten pass into his fifth goal of the season to cap the scoring.

Meanwhile, the UC Davis defense was stout, holding Bakersfield to just four shots on the night on its way to a 19-4 advantage in that category, putting 10 of those attempts on frame. Freshman Charles Janssen made two saves in net on the night in his second straight start.

Arfsten (23 points), Fidler (17), Mejia (16), and Andy Velasquez (12), all have double-digit points on the year -- the first time the Aggies have had at least four with 10-or-more points in a season since 2017 when they had five. Arfsten's eight goals and 23 points are the most by a UC Davis player since Quincy Amarikwa finished with 15 scores and 31 points in 2008, while his seven assists are the highest since Adam Mickelson's seven in 2017.

The Aggies now have four players with at least five goals on the year: Arfsten (eight), Fidler (six), Mejia (five), and Velasquez (five) -- the first time since five players did so in 2007, led by Sule Anibaba's eight.
 

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