Shirts came off, cards were shown, and remarkable goals were scored as Cal Poly Men’s Soccer cruised to a dominant 3-0 victory over San Jose State during their home opener.
The Mustangs (1-0-2) surged past the Spartans (0-2-0) as tonight’s captain, junior midfielder Rylan Firouznam, and junior forward Quinn Mahoney led a punishing attack against the San Jose State defense.
Cal Poly outshot SJSU 14 -9, with six and three shots on target, respectively. Mahoney, Firouznam, junior midfielder Colin Pearce, and junior forward Finn Linas all came up with two shots in tonight’s match, with Mahoney placing both of his shots on target.
However, the moment that the Mustang attack first broke through came from an unlikely player in the 26th minute: freshman defender Peyton Marmion.
Marmion had his number called at the start of this season after senior captain Parker Owens suffered a serious injury. While he is a defender, Marmion showed an attacking mentality, and with an assist from Pearce off a corner kick, his top-corner shot gave Marmion his first collegiate goal as a Mustang.
“I felt pure happiness,” Marmion said. “All my hard work to get to this point, and then scoring a goal as a defender because you don’t get many of them, and happiness just to be here at this program and to be with this group of guys. I am so eternally grateful to be here.”
As a true freshman, Marmion has already made an immediate impact for Cal Poly with his first career assist in the Aug. 20 match against Denver, and now his first career goal against SJSU.
“He has really capitalized on an opportunity to get to play,” Head Coach Oige Kennedy said. “He’s very good at attacking set pieces, even though he’s a defender, and it was great to see him get on the end of one tonight.”
Marmion’s goal gave Cal Poly significant offensive momentum, increasing the intensity between the two teams throughout the game. Junior Devin Bening was the first to receive a yellow card after a hard tackle on a Spartan defender near midfield.
However, the Mustangs were not deterred by Bening’s booking as Mahoney took center stage to put Cal Poly up by two goals going into halftime. After a through ball looked to be overhit for Firouznam, Mahoney came flying in to intercept the ball to record his first goal of the year.
Mahoney scored just five minutes after being subbed onto the field and received a subsequent yellow card for ripping his shirt off in the midst of celebration, the second yellow for Cal Poly.
“It is such a big deal for us to win our home opener,” said Mahoney, “With people being on the scoresheet and fans coming out supporting us, it felt amazing.”
After spending months on the sidelines due to injury, and suffering a personal loss in the process, Mahoney’s appearance in tonight’s game felt like a triumph on multiple levels.
“10 months of coming back from an ACL injury, and two months into that, my best friend passed away, so it’s definitely an emotional moment for me, but very happy to go two up on those kinds of opponents,” said Mahoney.
Mahoney was also one of the players who applied the pressure on the San Jose State defense that led to the third goal of the night, an own goal by the Spartans.
It was not just offense that shined for the Mustangs tonight; redshirt freshman goalkeeper Mathew Guerra got his first recorded shutout as the starting goalkeeper.
Guerra came up huge in the 55th minute to keep the Spartans scoreless after San Jose State was awarded a penalty for a foul occurring just inside the side of the box. He made a crucial save against Spartan midfielder Angel Fernandez, who took the penalty kick.
“Once the kid went down and it was a foul, I immediately knew I had to step up here. I have to be big. The coaches expect big out of me, and I want to prove that I am the man,” Guerra said.
Guerra proved to be the man for the job as this was one of his three saves throughout the second half. After two ties and a win, Guerra remains unbeaten as the Mustangs’ starting goalkeeper.
“One thing with Matt that we’ve seen with him is that he has a great ability to come up with big saves, so penalty kicks or one-on-ones,” Kennedy said. “He made a great save against Davis. So, we’re continuing to see that as a trend, and he’s really building on it.”
Cal Poly will now rest and recover before attempting to maintain their unbeaten streak as they are back at Spanos Stadium on Aug. 30 to take on San Diego State.