Every time Cal Poly football players enter Alex G. Spanos Stadium, they know the bar – or rather, a recurring sort of banner – is set high.
The trio of commemorative banners honoring Jordan Beck, Chris Gocong and Kyle Shotwell remind of a golden age of Cal Poly defense, when those three won the Buck Buchanan Award – given to the best defender in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) – from 2004 to 2006.
Cal Poly senior opposite Kylie Atherstone was named Monday the Big West Conference Player of the Week after leading Cal Poly (5-6) at the Pismo Beach Invitational.
Atherstone amassed a season-high 21 kills with a match-high .450 hitting percentage against Saint Mary’s in the Mustangs’ first outing at the invitational, along with 17 digs and two aces in a four-game loss.
Until the end of time, coaches will always harp the cliché that the most important game is the next game. But we all know that’s not really true, right? Everyone circles one date or another on the calendar, depending on what they’re looking for. Here are 10 such dates in Cal Poly sports for the rest of the fall season that we at the Mustang Daily recommend circling, in chronological order:
10.
When students return to class for the fall quarter, new classes are not the only things that will be starting on campus. Here is a list of 10 Cal Poly athletes to keep your eye on this fall:
Men’s soccer – Eric Branagan-Franco
The senior goalkeeper owns a bevy of school records including save percentage, goals-against average, shutouts in a season and career shutouts.
After two season-opening games decided by last-minute field-goal attempts, the Cal Poly football team put itself in a less suspenseful finish Saturday.
The Mustangs, who topped San Diego State 30-28 Aug. 30 before falling 29-27 Sept. 6 to Montana, sprinted to a 28-7 lead at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La.
The No. 6 Stanford women’s volleyball team edged Cal Poly 25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 25-10 Saturday in front of a Mott Gym regular-season record crowd of 2,917.
The No. 19 Mustangs (5-6), who won their first set against Stanford in 22 years, were led by Kylie Atherstone’s 17 kills.
While many universities feel pressure to create new, “easier” majors for student athletes to remain eligible, Cal Poly shies away from such a practice.
“Some athletics is big business now, and you find ways around certain things, and we don’t do that here,” said Cal Poly Athletics’ director of academic services Shannon Stephens, who used to work in the same capacity at UCLA.
Bobby Hodges started driving well before other kids his age. In fact, he was just 11 years old when he really started putting the pedal to the metal.
But then, while other kids were at the age when they would be putting away their toy plastic racecars, Hodges was behind the wheel of a real little racecar, careening down the track and beating his competition.
Competition is the source of inspiration for all athletes, but downtime is what’s pushed Eric Branagan-Franco even more.
As the co-captain and starting goalkeeper for the Cal Poly men’s soccer team, Branagan-Franco was ready to help propel the Mustangs to the playoffs last season when, with two games left, he suffered a devastating blow.
This story was posted at 8:58 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16. Days after his football team’s Saturday game at McNeese State in Lake Charles, La. was canceled due to possible consequences of Hurricane Ike, Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson was surprisingly whimsical at the school’s news conference Monday afternoon.
Hear audio and see photos from the football win against SDSU on Aug. 30.
