Cal Poly Men’s Soccer upset No. 22 Oregon State 4-3 on Saturday night at Mustang Memorial Field. The Mustangs (6-4-5) overcame a 2-1 halftime deficit and held on to win.
The Beavers (7-3-4, 3-1-1 Pac-12) found the back of the net in just the 10th minute, taking an early 1-0 lead. Cal Poly needed only two minutes to answer. Tanner Casey headed in a corner kick delivered by Colin Pearce to equalize.
In just his second collegiate start, Cal Poly sophomore goalkeeper Dylan Glowaski kept the game level after denying a Beaver penalty kick in the 19th minute. Oregon State retook the lead just before halftime when Sava Catlett scored off a feed from Oliver Hernandez Parra for a 2-1 lead.
Mustang Head Coach Oige Kennedy was pleased with the response, but not with the start.
“The only frustration for us was how we started the game,” Kennedy said. “I thought we waited around to see what they were about and didn’t kind of impose ourselves, but really great credit to the guys to keep going and showing that relentless fight and belief in each other.”
Down a goal at the break, the Mustangs kept their composure. “No one was down in the locker room. Everyone had positive vibes,” junior Quinn Mahoney said. “We were right there, and [we] just stayed positive; it’s gonna come.”
The goals came soon after the break. Mahoney, who started on the bench, came off in the second half and made an immediate impact. He tied the game in the 61st minute after redirecting a corner kick from Pearce. Just ninety-five seconds later, Mahoney scored again off another cross from Pearce, putting the Mustangs up 3-2.
Kennedy said bringing Mahoney off the bench was part of a three-game plan.
“It would be naive for us to try and play everybody for 90 minutes,” Kennedy said.
He also pointed to how far Mahoney has come since returning from injury.
“He’s done so well to come back from injury,” Kennedy said. “He has a quality in front of goal that we saw tonight, and he’s going to be a big part of the rest of the season.”
To Pearce, the two goals were overdue.
“I think Quinn’s been getting super unlucky this whole season,” Pearce said. “I think he could easily have eight goals, and for him to get two tonight is really well deserved.”
Pearce finished with three assists, tying the Cal Poly program record. Pearce’s corner kicks led to three Mustang goals, two of which he assisted on. He credited the coaching staff’s scouting report for the success.
“Our coaches did a really good job scouting out that we really need to put the balls on top of the keeper’s head, and that’s what we did tonight,” Pearce said.
After taking a 3-2 lead, Cal Poly kept their foot on the gas and kept pushing offensively. In the 71st minute, Finn Linas scored on another corner kick to give Cal Poly a 4-2 lead.
Wyatt Borso got one back for Oregon State in the 82nd minute with his conference-leading 11th goal, cutting the lead to 4-3. In the 89th minute, an apparent Beavers equalizer was waved off after video review because Borso was called for a high boot.
The Mustangs held on to the upset through the final whistle.
“We’ve been down multiple times this season; we’ve come back a lot, so I think our team has a ton of resilience,” Pearce said. “We really knew that we had to come out and show some fire, and that’s what we did.”
Cal Poly returns to the road Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. at UC Irvine.