A defensive battle between the Cal Poly Men’s Soccer team and the UC Riverside Highlanders at Mustang Memorial Field on Saturday, Oct. 12, resulted in a scoreless draw.
The match, set to give the Mustangs a chance to take the lead atop the Big West standings, instead pushed Cal Poly into a three-way tie for the top spot with UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Bakersfield.
The Mustangs (5-3-5, 2-0-2 Big West) continued to display their defensive dominance in the Big West Conference, smothering the Highlanders’ (3-5-3, 1-1-2 Big West) offensive attack.
This makes this the fourth of the five matches played at home in which Cal Poly induced a shutout. The Mustangs remain unbeaten at home, standing tall with a 4-0-1 record.
With the draw, Cal Poly extends its unbeaten streak to nine games, the program’s longest unbeaten stretch since the 2007 season, when the Mustangs remained unbeaten for 11 straight matches.
Cal Poly had kept UC Riverside at bay, allowing only two shots in the first half and five shots total, without any shots on target. Goalkeeper Nicky McCune was not forced to make any saves during the match.
“I think we did a really good job of stopping them,” sophomore defender Parker Owens said. “We were really tight, able to block shots, and they didn’t have too many shots on goal so I think we did a decent job of blocking them out.”
The offensive pressure also proved to be a non-issue. The Mustangs provided a strong offensive start to the match, with two corner kicks and one shot for Cal Poly within the first ten minutes.
The attacking opportunities were extremely prevalent in the first half, with the Mustangs firing nine shots, three on target. Cal Poly would finish with 14 shots, five on target.
Two Mustangs took over half of Cal Poly’s shots: freshman forward Finn Linas, with five shots, and redshirt freshman midfielder Quinn Mahoney, with three.
The Mustangs were also present in the corner, launching nine kicks from the edge of the field.
“We had quite a few corners tonight which is good,” head coach Oige Kennedy said. “We’ve been really good at scoring off those set pieces. We need to keep looking at that as a way to contribute.”
Cal Poly will carry the unbeaten streak into a two-game road trip beginning with UC San Diego on Wednesday, Oct. 16th at 7 p.m.