Cal Poly sophomore midfielder Christian Enriquez met with his coaches and team today to officially announce his intention to leave the team and school to pursue a professional opportunity. 

Over the weekend, Enriquez posted the following to his Instagram account, thanking teammates and coaches. He has an opportunity it seems, and he’s taking it. 

 

I’m deeply saddened to say I’m leaving Cal Poly, but happy to know the past two years have been filled with growth and relationships with great people. I’ve made some brothers and have made memories I’ll cherish forever. This team is family and I’m blessed to have been part of such a great university and soccer program. When opportunities present themselves they might not come again, & I am excited for what’s next. All the best to my teammates and coaches that have supported unconditionally. #CPMS

A post shared by christian enriquez (@c.enriquez10) on Jan 4, 2018 at 8:39pm PST

That opportunity, Enriquez confirmed with Fansmanship.com, is a USL contract in Portland. The Timbers and T2 (what they call their USL team) are familiar with players from Cal Poly. Goalkeeper Wade Hamilton played there last season and is listed on their roster. 

“I’m leaving because it’s a solid opportunity for me to leave school for and it’s something I’ve been chasing since I was three,” said Enriquez. “Coach Sampson agreed it was the right time for me to leave as well.”

Christian Enriquez scores his first collegiate goal against UCSB in 2016. By Owen Main

As a freshman, Enriquez was the Big West Freshman of the Year, scoring a long goal at home against UCSB and being the centerpiece of Cal Poly’s developing attack under head coach Steve Sampson. During the offseason, Enriquez was invited to train with the U-19 National Team three times. In 2017, he picked up a an early leg injury that limited his time and effectiveness throughout the season. The USL schedule starts toward the end of March, though T2 hasn’t posted a 2018 schedule yet. 

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Kaba Alkebulan scored his second goal in as many games on Thursday night at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, as Cal Poly found two late goals to get past UC Riverside 3-1 in their conference opener. 

Kaba’s goal was a nice one. He chested down a long pass, didn’t take any additional touches with his feet, and rolled home a ball into the far corner of the goal to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. 

That Kaba goal from tonight. Not sure how it curled in, but it did. 'Stangs beat UCR 3-1 to take 3 points in their first conference match. @BigWestMSOC pic.twitter.com/gNQrZ2kUQx

— fansmanship (@fansmanship) September 29, 2017

Then he did this.

Then this.

Then this. 

Then this.

Finally, this. 

Alkebulan’s career at Cal Poly has spanned three coaches. He’s one of the final three players left on the roster recruited by Paul Holocher (Along with Nick Carroll and Adam Olsen).

Days into his second year on-campus, Holocher resigned. An interim coach (Phil Ruskin) picked up the slack, followed by Steve Sampson, who is in his third year at the helm.

Kaba’s size, speed, and strength have always been tantalizing to watch, but a clumsy first touch and sometimes overboard emotional energy seem to have gone the way of his dreadlocks for this, his senior season. I would liken him to former Cal Poly basketball player Joel Awich — a player who has always had some NICE physical tools who has progressed into a guy who can go against anyone through years of hard work. 

Mustangs start with three points

After Kaba’s goal, the Mustangs gave up a silly goal off an errant pass by defender Nick Carroll. With under ten minutes to play in regulation, it looked like the game might be stalling into overtime. In the 81st minute, Adam Olsen found Kaba in the box. After a calm touch or two, Kaba slipped and, with a loose ball in the six-yard box, junior midfielder Jose Rivera (Irvine Valley College) was there to clean up the mess, scoring his second goal as a Mustang. 

Less than seven minutes later, senior Tyler Savitsky (Harvard) capitalized on the Highlanders’ scrambling for an equalizer, slotting a pass from Diego Alonso into the net to pad the lead. 

Cal Poly plays at home against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday evening in Alex J. Spanos Stadium. 

Photos by Owen Main. To view more photos, click here. If you just want to contribute to the cause Venmo @Owen-Main or paypal owen@fansmanship.com. 

Last week, I got a message from Elise Krieghoff. It was simply a video that showed Krieghoff scoring on a bicycle kick in the professional league, where she plays in Norway. Krieghoff, Cal Poly’s all-time leading scorer, had a stint as a pro with the Boston Breakers of the US-based NWSL before moving to Norway this season.

The goal by itself is just rad, but the other shoe dropped when Krieghoff told me who the keeper was — former teammate Alyssa Giannetti. Giannetti also plays in the Norwegian league, and her former teammate’s goalazo came directly at her expense. 

I still think this goal Krieghoff scored in college was even better. 

Together, Giannetti and Krieghoff led Cal Poly women’s soccer to a pretty great three-year run. During their first three seasons, the Mustangs were 18-4-2 in Big West play, won a Big West regular season title, and earned the right to host the Big West Tournament. 

When I tweeted the video, Giannetti’s response was great:

It was only a matter of time before this surfaced haha

— Alyssa Giannetti (@AlyssaRozae) September 9, 2017

Props to Alyssa being a wonderful sport about the whole thing. Props to Elise for an amazing goal. 

It’s always fun when I can get footage of a Cal Poly athlete playing professionally. Ride High, ladies. 

Cal Poly men’s soccer starts their season tomorrow with an exhibition against Fresno Pacific. That’s no big deal — they’ve played the Sunbirds to open the season before. What is different is that the game will be played in Paso Robles.

At a Horse Park. 

The Paso Robles Horse Park, according to its website, opened in 2015 as a venue for equestrian competitions. Its main field — presumably where the match will be played — is specially engineered for horses. It has synthetic material woven into the grass to provide a more firm base for horses to jump and land on. From the website:

“The Fairway Field measures 300 feet by 500 feet and it is not your ordinary grass field. A sophisticated drainage system sits under eight inches of a specially prepared base comprised of sand and screened native soil designed by a soils engineer. Within this, polypropylene fibers were cultivated into the top four inches of the base. These fibers open up and bind with the soil along with the roots of the grass to form a more resilient footing for the various jumping and athletic events.”

So, on the one hand, Cal Poly should be able to play on a much wider surface than they’re accustomed to at home (Did you know soccer fields are all different sizes? It’s true. The width of a field can literally DOUBLE, depending on where you play). This wider field should help as Cal Poly goes back east to play on fields much wider than the Spanos surface. 

Kaba Alkebulan and the Cal Poly men’s soccer team kick off their season on Wednesday night in Paso Robles. By Owen Main

Also, the field could be a little different than what they’re used to. We know the tougher turf is better for horses, but will it effect the playability of the surface itself? 

Later in the season (September 23rd), the Mustangs will play again at the Paso Robles Horse Park on a football home game day. That game, against Cal State Bakersfield, will not be an exhibition. I’ll need to check when the last time the Mustangs played a home soccer match that counted and that wasn’t at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. 

I’ll be at the game on Wednesday night in Paso Robles. It’s the last opportunity to see Steve Sampson’s team “at home” until September 10th, when they host Saint Mary’s. It’s hard to believe, but this is Sampson’s third season at the helm of the Cal Poly program. 

Game time: 5:00pm

Location: Paso Robles Horse Park 

This wasn’t a UCSB game, but Cal Poly and their fans hope they can celebrate like they did during this game. By Owen Main

Blue and Green. They go together like oil and vinegar. Peanut butter and ketchup. Toothpaste and apple juice.

Bounce-back kids

Both UCSB and Cal Poly kicked-off Big West North action with losses on Wednesday. The Mustangs fell on a golden goal to UC Davis in overtime and the Gauchos, playing with 10 men for most of the match, were upended by Sacramento State 5-2.

So, which team will bounce-back?

Who scores first?

This match will feature great 1-1 and offense-defense matchups. Most notably, Cal Poly’s defense is much-improved from a season ago and UCSB has the Big West’s most potent attack.

Cal Poly’s attacking players can also be potent though, and they better find a way to score first. Cal Poly’s Justin Dhillon is the only player on the current roster to have notched a goal in the Blue-Green rivalry, and he has three of them. Dhillon, who was a top-40 national recruit coming out of high school, has been nursing a sore hamstring while still getting comfortable in new coach Steve Sampson’s system. Cal Poly will need him to provide attacking support and smart midfield decision-making.

For UCSB, Nick DePuy scored four goals just last season against the Mustangs. The UCSB junior has scored nearly a goal per game this year. He’s an imposing presence in the middle and alongside freshman Geoffrey Acheampong, DePuy has thrived once again this season.

Mustang seniors

Cal Poly’s senior class, which includes at least four players with professional aspirations, finds itself in a familiar position. In each of the past few years, Cal Poly has seen a decent start to Big West Conference play fizzle into weak finishes to the season. There are only five more games for the Mustangs to prove they belong in the tournament and to get right for a possible playoff run.

The play of the entire team will make a big difference. This senior class has been through a lot over the past 18 months and nothing would be sweeter for them than a home win against the team from Goleta.

Seriously, Nick DePuy has been amazing this season. By Owen Main

DePuy dominance

Did I mention that Nick DePuy is a dominator? The 6′ 4″ junior has 12 goals in 14 games so far this year after tallying 10 goals in 2014. DePuy gave an infamous “quiet” sign to the Cal Poly student section after scoring last year. He’d love nothing more than to do it again on Saturday night.

UCSB has a lot of players to watch who are dangerous and talented. Acheampong is among the best, but DePuy is the guy who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Look out for number 6 in blue.

Youth and depth

UCSB has a good baseline of young players. Their starting lineup at Sac State included seven underclassmen and just one senior. Cal Poly starts four seniors and, while veterans of this game like DePuy won’t be phased at all, playing in front of 11,075 (or more) screaming fans can have an effect on players who are new to this game. Let me be clear, this goes for players on both sides.

Who wants to be a hero?

I had a high school football coach who used to ask this question for big games.

When it comes to games in SLO, this is the biggest one. Who’s going to be the hero?

Matt LaGrassa scored two goals in a game for the first time since 2013. By Owen Main

Matt LaGrassa wears the captain’s arm band for Cal Poly in this, his senior season. On Friday night, he proved why. In Steve Sampson’s first game coaching in college in 25 years, LaGrassa had a goal in each half to lead the Mustangs to a 2-1 victory over defending WAC champions UNLV.

UNLV had the run of possession for much of the game, earning a 10th minute penalty kick. Cal Poly keeper Wade Hamilton guessed the right way, but Bradley Kamdem’s shot rolled wide.

In the 18th minute, Cal Poly broke through. Kip Colvey broke free up the right hand side and served a cross into LaGrassa, who controlled the ball and slotted it past the UNLV keeper to give Cal Poly a 1-0 lead.

UNLV equalized in the 33rd minute. Just seconds after earning a yellow card, Rebel midfielder Kevin Partida drilled a shot past Hamilton and off the far post into the net.

LaGrassa, whose intercepted pass led to the UNLV goal, put Cal Poly back ahead for good in the 47th minute, taking a long pass from Kody Wakasa, shucking a defender, and scoring again.

For the game UNLV out-shot Cal Poly 17-9 and had a number of opportunities to tie the game within the final 20 minutes.

Now 1-0 on the season, Cal Poly will travel to Spokane, WA to play against Gonzaga Thursday and Seattle on Saturday.

Photos below by Owen Main 

Click here to view all photos

It’s been about eight months since Steve Sampson took over as the Cal Poly head coach. Sampson’s 34-man roster includes 13 newcomers and boasts at least four seniors with professional aspirations. We talked about what the transition back to college coaching has been like and the prospects for the upcoming season.

Chase Minter was slotted as the 25th best player in the country this preseason according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. Photo by Owen Main.

Expectations for this year’s Cal Poly men’s soccer team continue to build. This week, senior midfielder Chase Minter — already on the 30-player Hermann Trophy watch list and an All-Big West preseason selection, was selected 25th on Top Drawer Soccer’s men’s national top-100 players list.

Minter is the first Big West player to appear on the list that also includes UC Irvine’s Mats Bjurman (38th), UCSB’s Nick DePuy (51st), and UCI’s Matthew Tilley (100th).

Minter scored seven goals and dished out five assists last season. He is Cal Poly’s most dynamic player with the ball at his feet and possibly the best 1 v 1 offensive player in the conference. If the Mustangs are to be serious conference contenders in 2015, Minter will have to have even a better season.

Cal Poly opens their inaugural season under first-year head coach and former US Men’s National team coach Steve Sampson on Friday night at home against defending WAC champions UNLV. Sampson compiled a 64-19-19 record while coaching at Santa Clara, and was a part of two NCAA National Championship teams — one as an assistant and one as the head coach.

Friday’s kickoff is scheduled for 7:00pm.

Wade Hamilton’s two penalty saves were highlights at the end of Sunday’s scrimmage. By Owen Main

Cal Poly men’s soccer held a scrimmage on Sunday afternoon following an alumni game. In the scrimmage, senior goalkeeper Wade Hamilton assisted on the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation and saved two shots in the penalty shootout to help his team to victory.

Overall, the squad will be much deeper this season than last year. Additions of players like Oscar Jansson and the return of junior Kody Wakasa will mean that Matt LaGrassa probably won’t have to go play center back again anytime soon (though he proved last season that he can be pretty effective wherever he’s needed on the pitch).

In Steve Sampson’s first season, the roster is dotted with talented seniors, and expectations remain high.

Photos by Owen Main

Last Wednesday, LA Galaxy won a US Open Cup game 6-1 against PSA Elite, which featured Cal Poly’s Justin Dhillon, who came on in the 61st minute.

Dhillon didn’t get a ton of chances — LA Galaxy were really tight in the second half — but he did show a little bit of nice control and delivered a decent cross into the middle from the left wing.

Photos by Owen Main