Gonzaga University men’s soccer picked up their third win of the season, courtesy of Drew Pedersen’s 76th minute header, taking down their head coach’s former team.

The Zags (3-3-1) ended a 265‑minute scoring drought in the 76th minute on Saturday when Pedersen’s header lifted the Zags to a 1‑0 road win over Cal State Bakersfield (1-2-2). The victory snapped a two‑game skid and marked a homecoming for Head Coach Chris McGaughey, as the Zags’ second-year boss returned to the school where his coaching career began.

Pedersen, the Zags leading scorer, shed his marker amid the pre-corner kick scramble inside the six-yard box, leaving him open to knock home a looped ball from forward Dashiell Stein for his third goal of the season. The finish also earned Stein his team-leading second assist of the campaign.

With 14 minutes to play after the game-winning header, GU had little issue protecting their 1-0 advantage as Bakersfield’s offense was  unsuccessful in the late game phase. The hosts looked far more dangerous early in the game, piling on the pressure right from the start with a flurry of shots in the opening five minutes. But after making four early saves to quell the Roadrunners initial foray, Zags goalkeeper Chema Preciado was hardly troubled for the rest of the evening as he secured his fourth clean sheet of the young season.

It took GU some time to grow into the game, before Nico Golesis mustered the Zags’ best chance of the first half in the 25th minute. The sophomore winger cut inside from the left flank before firing a powerful shot that forced Bakersfield’s keeper to palm the ball out for a corner.

Entering the second half, the game only got cagier. Outside of Pedersen’s game-winning header — which was only the Zags sixth shot of the game — GU took just one shot in the last 45 minutes and neither team surpassed 10 shots on the night.

The win brings the Zags record to 3-3-1, the same mark the program had at this stage of the prior season, but McGaughey will hope his 2026 squad can pick up more than just two more wins in their 10 remaining games to mathematically surpass a mixed bag of a 2025 campaign.

But records and goals aside, this victory would have more meaning than most for GU’s second-year head coach. McGaughey, a former professional goalkeeper in the Irish Premiership, first took up coaching at Bakersfield in 2018 as an assistant under Richie Grant.

Now in 2026, McGaughey enjoyed the honor of being able to share a touchline with his former boss and best Grant’s roadrunners in a victorious return to Bakersfield for GU’s gaffer.

Fresh off a win, the Zags will get a week on the training pitch with some wind in their sails before traveling to take on UNLV at 7 p.m. on Sunday for their last of four consecutive road games. A live feed of stats for the game will be available on GoZags.com with the game streamed live on The MW+.

Hoby Miller is a staff writer.