For the second time in three years, Cal Poly Women’s Soccer found themselves 90 minutes away from a Big West Tournament Championship in 2023.
In their fourth matchup against UC Irvine in the Big West finale, Cal Poly fell short again.
A 40th minute strike from the Anteaters ended the Mustangs’ chance at a Big West championship, a title they haven’t hoisted since 2004, and ended the team’s 2023 campaign.
“The third time hurt the worst,” senior defender Emma Brown said. “We’re using that as fuel to go into our next season.”
In 2022, Cal Poly took the No. 1 seed into the conference tournament before losing in the semifinals on home field to Long Beach State. In 2021 they faced UC Irvine in Irvine, falling 1-0 as the Anteaters won their first of three straight Big West Championships.
“It’s an achievement to get there,” head coach Alex Crozier said. “But we have got to be better at the end of the season.”
Running it back
The Mustangs return 30 players from last season, the most of any Division I team in the nation.
“We’ve established a pretty good team culture the last couple of years,” Crozier said. “Great teams are internally led. We are looking for our senior players to lead internally, the coaching staff is here to guide that.”
2023 All-Freshman Big West team members sophomores Sophia Moness and Sophia Minnite return tallying six assists between them last season.
Annika Smith made the All-Big West second team to go along with an All-Freshman team nod. Smith, Moness and Minnite lead the youth movement to a team with 18 upperclassmen.
Other returners are super-sub and top goal scorer junior Jessie Halladay, senior forward Kate Reedy and senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Samuel, who ranks tenth in all-time saves at Cal Poly.
Emma Brown, the reigning Big West Defender of the Year, returns to anchor a backline that has posted 13 shutouts the last two seasons.
Both Brown and Reedy were named to the All-Big West preseason team before this season.
The team lost one starter from last season in Olivia Ortiz, and only lost five players total.
Having almost all of the key pieces from last season return sets the team up to continue their quest for a Big West title without breaking stride trying to integrate too many new pieces.
Early-Season Tests
Last year’s non-conference slate included then-defending champions and No. 1 UCLA, along with ranked opponents in No. 8 Santa Clara and No. 23 Gonzaga.
This season is more of the same, with the first major tilt against a No. 11 UCLA team that finished 16-1-1 before being knocked out in the first round by the UC Irvine team that beat Cal Poly in the Big West championship.
“We want to go out and attack those games, see what we are able to do,” Crozier said. “Rather than going out and playing safe just trying to hang on, we’re going to go play.”
Other matchups include a rematch against Portland after a 2-0 loss last season, and West Coast Conference runner-up No. 22 Santa Clara.
“Those kind of games are statement games because we are going to go in as the underdog,” Brown said. “It’s a statement to our conference that we are coming to play and are ready for the conference.”
Some notable conference games include opening the slate with Blue-Green rivals UC Santa Barbara at home on Sept. 19.
The team travels down to Fullerton to take on the 2023 regular season champions on Sept. 29 before turning around and hosting UC Irvine on Oct. 3.
The home finale against UC Davis on Oct. 27 is the last scheduled home game for 31-year head coach Alex Crozier.
One Last Ride
The 2024 season marks the end of Crozier’s long and storied coaching career at Cal Poly.
“I can’t predict the future, but I see big things ahead for this program, not only this coming fall, but for years to come,” Crozier told GoPoly.com.
Crozier’s 133 conference wins are the most in Big West history when no other coach has eclipsed 100 wins, his six Big West Coach of the Year awards double anyone else in conference history.
All 31 seasons of Women’s soccer at Cal Poly as an intercollegiate sport have been under the guidance of Crozier, and with 12 seniors also on the squad many shoes will need to be filled next season.
Despite this being the end of an era for Cal Poly, Brown says the team isn’t feeling any added weight on their shoulders.
“It’s less of a pressure and more of a want to succeed,” Brown said. “To make it a big deal for him and for this whole team, because this is a really special group of girls.”
Cal Poly opens the regular season at Mustang Memorial Field against Portland University on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 7 p.m.
