Cal Poly women’s soccer clinched the Big West regular season championship with a shutout win over UC San Diego 1-0 on Thursday, Oct. 27 at Triton Soccer Stadium.
The Mustangs (9-6-3, 6-1-3 Big West) are outright champions this season for the first time since 2013 after sharing the title with UC Irvine last season. Meanwhile, the Tritons (3-10-6, 2-4-4 Big West) will not play in the conference tournament.
To win the regular season title, Cal Poly needed some help from UC Davis, who took down Long Beach State, the Big West leaders heading into the night.
In the first half, the Cal Poly defense was stuffing UC San Diego, only allowing one shot on goal, which sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Samuel had no trouble with, and three shots in total.
The Mustangs, on the other hand, applied pressure for the first 45 minutes with nine shots on the Tritons. No goals were scored, but it was clear who the more aggressive team was.
The lone goal of the match came in the 53rd minute off the foot of senior forward Olivia Ortiz, her third of the year, after an assist from senior midfielder Camille LaFaix.
Throughout the second half, Cal Poly added 12 more shots but none were successful.
It didn’t matter, as the Mustang back line continued to do their thing by shutting out the Tritons and only allowing six shots for the remainder of the match.
With the win, Cal Poly will host the Big West women’s soccer championship tournament inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium next week for the first time since 2014.
The Mustangs open up the tournament with a bye as the No. 1 seed, and they will await the winner of a Sunday matchup between No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 5 UC Santa Barbara.
The winner faces off against Cal Poly on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.