After losing out on the starting job to start the 2025 season, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Shannon Porubski was back to where she was one year prior: working hard in practice every day to show the coaching staff that she deserved a chance to prove herself out on the field.
That opportunity arose for Porubski after the first five games of the new season.
While redshirt junior and transfer goalkeeper Alyssa Szarlacki had not done a poor job in goal, the Mustangs had started off their season with five ties. Cal Poly’s new coaching staff was looking for answers, as something had to change for the Mustangs to find their footing with a tough conference schedule ahead of them.
Porubski was told in the hotel the night before the game that she would be starting against UNLV on Aug. 31.
“I just saw it as my opportunity that I had been waiting for, and I just wanted to make the most of it,” Porubski said. “I didn’t have too much pressure. I just felt prepared, and I was ready.”
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Three hundred and ninety-eight days after her first practice at Cal Poly, Porubski made her official Mustang debut in a dominating fashion, securing the first victory of the season.
If Porubski was nervous, the scoresheet did not show it. Cal Poly went out and got their first win with a 1-0 victory over UNLV, and Porubski made five saves in the 90 minute match for her first win and shutout.
“Soccer is a hard game, especially in our conference, so just being the best rock and foundation I can be for the team,” Porubski said. “I’m just really doing my role for the team.”
Next steps in the net
Since then, Porubski has started in all eight of the Mustang’s wins this season and helped the team to have a 6-2-2 record in Big West Conference play, finishing the season in second in the Big West.
The Big West All-Freshman Team honoree has gone on to become a staple of the Cal Poly Women’s Soccer defense, leading the team to seven shutouts and eight wins after earning the role of the starting goalkeeper midway through the season.
In her first full year at the college level, Porubski earned Big West Freshman of the Week four times and Big West Defensive Player of the Week once. Despite all of her success this year, Porbuski’s Cal Poly career did not start out the way she imagined.
Last year, Porubski was chosen to redshirt for the 2024 season, meaning she did not see the field at all for preseason or regular season play, had limited travel on team trips, but practiced with the team daily. While the decision was anticipated and discussed up front, it was still a difficult adjustment for the freshman to make.
For some, this would have killed their confidence before even stepping foot on a collegiate field. For Porubski, she viewed that season as an opportunity to develop as a player and learn from one of Cal Poly’s greatest goalkeepers, Mackenzie Samuel.
“That first season was really just about development and just doing everything that I could to put myself in a good opportunity when my time came around sophomore year,” Porubski said.
Samuel earned a variety of accolades while competing as a Mustang, most notably being named 2022 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year and becoming only the fifth four-time All-Big West honoree in program history. She was in the midst of her final season on the Cal Poly field while Porbuski waited in the wings.
The shift
Porubski credited her increased level of play and abilities to training alongside Samuel. In the offseason, Porubski also did additional work to ensure that she was coming back to Cal Poly in her top form this season.
She played for Iron Rose FC, a semi-pro team in the Women’s Premiere Soccer League. In this league, Porubski was playing against some of the top high school, collegiate and post-collegiate women’s soccer players in the country.
“It’s just playing at a high level,” Porubski said. “I got a lot of playing time, so that kind of got me used to the speed of play, of what the college game would look like.”
Even with the extra play in the offseason and the mentorship from Samuel, Porubski still had to be patient at the start of the 2025 season when she was named the backup goalkeeper to Szarlacki.
“They deemed us one and two,” Porubski said. “They told me, I just have to keep working hard. They need to have two starters, and when my opportunity presents itself, just take it and take full advantage of it.”
When Porubski started against UNLV, it was the first time that the redshirt freshman would log minutes in an official match. She had played 21 minutes of an exhibition match the year prior.
Senior defender Brennan Cole has recognized all of the work that Porubski put in over the past year to get to this level of play. Cole said her confidence has grown significantly compared to last year.
“I don’t know what she did over the summer, but she really stepped into the job she knew she had to do,” Cole said. “That gave her even more confidence. She’s really improved in these last few months we’ve been with Bernardo, and it’s been awesome to see and play in front of.”
The Mustang defense, with Porubski at the goal line, has hit their stride while finishing out their conference play. They have helped the team to a four game winning streak, recently snapped by a 1-1 tie with CSUN, with shutouts in three of the last five games.
Porubski will look to continue her meteoric rise on the biggest stage the country has to offer, as Cal Poly enters the NCAA Tournament with the redshirt freshman in goal after winning the Big West Championship on Nov. 9. The Mustangs had not made the conference Championship match since 2023 and have not held the trophy since 2004.
“Now that I’m starting, the next goal I’m pushing for is Big West Goalkeeper of the year,” Porubski said. “Then, just bringing our team to a Big West Championship, and then seeing how far we can progress through the NCAAs.”
With the Big West All-Freshman Team selectee’s breakout season coming to a close, Porubski will continue to elevate the program in hopes of bringing home a Big West Championship back to San Luis Obispo.
This story originally appeared in a printed newspaper on Nov. 12. For more stories from the November print edition check out the featured print section on our website or the full edition.