With the Green-Blue Rivalry match on the horizon, Cal Poly Men’s Soccer won its second straight match with a dominating performance over Utah Tech, with a final score of 2-0.
For the first time this season, the Mustangs (3-1-3) had players find the back of the net for a second time, ending a stretch in which each of their first eight goals came from a different player. Forwards Finn Linas and Devin Bening led the way against the Trailblazers (1-4-0), each scoring their second goal of the season.
Bening, a junior transfer from Occidental College, became the first Mustang to start a multi-goal campaign this season after following up a blocked shot from forward Quinn Mahoney to give Cal Poly an early lead in the 23rd minute.
“My first instinct is just to run to the goal when I see another person shooting it, and it happened to deflect to me, and it was just the right place at the right time,” Bening said.
As a player who has come off the bench in every game this season, only playing 185 of a possible 630 minutes, Bening has made the most of his time on the field. He has now notched two goals and one assist to co-lead the Mustangs in points this season.
“Every chance you get, you have to do your best,” Bening said. “I was out for four months [with an injury], and just those four months I wasn’t playing makes me grateful for every opportunity I have now.”
With the early goal, Cal Poly had the momentum and used it to their advantage, attacking a Utah Tech team that couldn’t break through the Mustang defense.
The second half reflected that of the first as the Cal Poly offense continued their onslaught of chances against Utah Tech’s goalkeeper Zach Jarvie, while the direct style of play from the Trailblazers trying to place balls behind the Mustang back line proved ineffective.
Linas followed in Bening’s footsteps in the 59th minute when he buried the ball into the bottom left corner after senior forward Jack Civitts placed a pass back to the top of the box for Linas to run onto.
“That goal comes from the pressure we were putting on them in the second half; we were just down in their half,” Linas said.
After scoring the game-winner against LMU back on Sept. 7, Linas has now scored in back-to-back games for the Mustangs. For Civitts, a player who co-led the team in assists last season with five, the assist to Linas recorded his first point of the 2026 season.
While Cal Poly outshot Utah Tech 17-5 in the match, goalkeeper Mathew Guerra did not record a single save over 90 minutes of play, but the Mustangs could not find the back of the net more than twice.
Leading the Mustangs in shots was Mahoney with four, followed by Linas, Civitts, and defender Devin Rosas, each recording two shots. Mahoney continues to be on limited minutes as he returns to form after an ACL tear at the end of last season.
Another player who made their first appearance of the season was redshirt junior midfielder Diego Guerra. Guerra, a 2024 All-Big West First Team selectee, has not played since Sept. 27, 2025, and utilized a medical redshirt season for the remainder of 2025.
“Getting Diego back out there tonight, he’s just a big presence, a big leader, and it feels great to have him back,” Linas said.
In 2024, Guerra was an integral part of the Mustang lineup, starting all 19 games as a true sophomore and recording three goals and one assist over the course of the year.
Guerra, Mahoney, and sophomore Michael Vick, who made his first appearance of the year against Indiana, where he played 36 minutes, are three All-Big West honorees who are working their way back into the lineup after injury as conference play looms.
“It’s always about the next man up,” Head Coach Oige Kennedy said. “It’s a meritocracy, so we want to reward people who do well. So, there’s always an opportunity for people to step up, and it’s a credit to how hard the guys are working.”
Cal Poly has two more home matches before they begin Pac-12 Conference play on Sept. 30. With another quick turnaround, they first take on familiar foe Cal State Bakersfield before a week of rest and preparation for the much-anticipated Green-Blue Rivalry game against rival UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 25.
“I think it’s naive to think that the guys don’t circle the date on their calendar and get excited about it. It’s such a special rivalry, it’s the biggest game on the Central Coast, and it has been every year, so we are really looking forward to it,” Kennedy said.
The three-game home campaign at Spanos Stadium carries on as the Mustangs attempt to continue their best start since 2014 when they take on Cal State Bakersfield on Sept. 15.