Cal Poly went head-to-head with San Diego State on Sunday night as headers decided the match in a contested 1-1 draw. Six yellow cards were shown, distributed between both teams, as Cal Poly managed to scrape away a point from a chippy game on a last-minute comeback.
A goal in the final minutes helped the Mustangs (1-0-3) extend their unbeaten streak to four games as they battled against the Aztecs (1-1-2), with goals from both teams coming in the final 10 minutes of play.
The first half was a quiet half for both teams. With the Aztecs pulling a fifth defender back on defense, it was a challenge for the Mustangs to get any offensive momentum. Cal Poly was held to just five shots on goal in the first half, with junior midfielder Rylan Firouznam leading the team with two shots.
Cal Poly’s defense has continued to find success even without two starting defenders, senior captain Parker Owens and 2025 Big West All-Freshman Team honoree Michael Vick, who are both out with injuries. In the first half, SDSU was held to just two shots and only earned one corner kick.
“Our defense has definitely been our bread and butter. From training, we do so much defensive work, and that’s where it starts. It’s the trunk of the team,” sophomore defender Tanner Casey said.
For the first 40 minutes of the second half, the Cal Poly defense looked just as locked in as the first until San Diego State broke through the backline in the 84th minute with a cross into the box that was headed over goalkeeper Mathew Guerra.
With just under six minutes to go and unsuccessful offensive production for the Mustangs despite their nine shots at that point in the second half, it looked like Cal Poly would take their first loss of the season until the ball landed at the feet of Colin Pearce.
Pearce, one of Cal Poly’s leading attackers who has already scored one goal this season, floated a low cross into the box where junior transfer Devin Bening headed in his first goal of the season into the bottom left corner.
“We had just gotten scored on, and we needed a reaction,” Bening said. “I see a beautiful ball, and it’s curled in from the right side, and I am on the back shoulder of the center back, and I just have to get to the ball.”
Bening, a substitute in every match so far this season, had already notched his first career assist into his stat sheet during the UC Davis match earlier this season. With this goal, he now becomes the seventh different player to score for the Mustangs this season, and Cal Poly is only four games into their season.
“It felt like a mixture of not relief, but like that I belong here and that I can do this. I can actually help and step up for my team, and that I’m capable of more,” said Bening.
In the match, Cal Poly outshot SDSU 16-6, showing clear offensive prowess, but they were missing the connection in the final third of the field to help pull them ahead in the match.
The Mustangs appeared to find difficulty with the tactical strategy of the Aztecs, pulling a fifth defender on defense, but also with the aggressive style of play that led SDSU to four of the six total yellow cards. While the Aztecs received more yellow cards, Cal Poly had more fouls called against them, with nine compared to SDSU’s eight.
“Coach Oige [Kennedy] has really instilled in us to just focus on ourselves. We can still be aggressive, but once it kind of gets out of hand, that’s what he doesn’t want,” Casey said.
As the Mustangs begin to recover from the tense game against the Aztecs, they will look to shift their focus to Indiana, who they will take on next in Bloomington, IN on Sept. 4.
Indiana is one of the premier programs in college soccer, winning eight total NCAA titles with the most recent one in 2012, and they pose a big challenge for Cal Poly on the road.
“It’s something that our guys are super excited about, and when you play sports, all you want to do is to test yourself against the best,” Head Coach Oige Kennedy said. “And going against the Hoosiers, who are a perennial powerhouse of college soccer, is going to be a fun one.”
Cal Poly will attempt to extend its unbeaten streak to five in the heavyweight matchup.