This is going to be a simple post about what I’d like to see happen tonight:

What I want to see

• Rain, and cool photos as a result. I don’t like rain for my gear, but I’m going to be prepared and hopefully will be able to get some awesome photos of a packed Spanos Stadium with the rain.
• Tough, gritty play. The quality of play usually raises significantly in the Blue-Green games. How will the weather will impact the game? I wonder who benefits from a little sloppiness.
• A rowdy, soaked stadium full of 11,075 sopping Cal Poly students and fans. I wonder how many will stay for the full 90. What if it goes into overtime? Cal Poly students showed they couldn’t brave the heat when they left at halftime of the Montana football game in 95-plus degree weather. Can they handle the wet weather?

What I don’t want to see

• Injuries on either team related to the wet weather. This is always my biggest worry in a game like this. Here’s hoping neither of these teams are hugely affected by any pulled groins or hamstrings or other injuries related to the wet weather and possibly sloppy surface.
• Anything being thrown on the field. Seriously people. We are not animals. Don’t throw anything on the field. No tortillas. No water bottles. Nothing. End of story. If you do, you’re an idiot. Here’s something I wrote at the end of last year’s game and it still stands.

A close game. These games are usually close, no matter how the Mustangs are doing.

Tonight should be fun.

In case you want to get amped before the game:

Photos from last year.

Video of the Kody Wakasa game-winner:

With all due respect to the Cal Poly men’s basketball and football teams, the Cal Poly – UCSB soccer game on Saturday night was the most exciting, most electric sporting event maybe in the history of San Luis Obispo. Perhaps it matched sold-out Blue-Green rivalry games of 2008 and 2011, but the energy was palpable.  The stadium was full — 11,075 in attendance — and that wasn’t counting the fans who couldn’t get in.

George Malki (2) had his game-face on before Saturday’s Blue-Green Riavalry game. His second-half goal was his fourth of the season and the first game-winner of his career. Photo by Owen Main

Fans inside and outside of Alex G. Spanos Stadium scrambled for a better view. Those who arrived 15 minutes before game-time might not have been allowed in — the place was already full. Some of those left outside needed police officers to get them off of fences or trees as they were packed 2-3 deep in places outside of Alex G. Spanos Stadium where the field was visible.

Inside the stadium, the pregame Cal Poly! chant was deafening. The Mustang Manglers, Cal Poly’s soccer fan club, were standing, chanting, and dancing 75 minutes prior to the game.

When junior midfielder George Malki slotted a 77th minute shot into the Gaucho net, his fourth of the season and first game-winning goal of his career, Spanos Stadium exploded.

As time expired, Cal Poly fans stormed the field for the second time this year after a Blue-Green game, celebrating their first soccer sweep over UCSB since 1997. The loss ended the Gauchos’ season. UCSB will not play in the postseason this year after a run of 10 consecutive NCAA appearances.

Along with the Marauders, most of the eastern stands were filled with white shirts for the “white-out,” creating a wall of support behind the Mustangs’ bench.

The most important stat of the game for Cal Poly, though, was number of tortillas that littered the field at Alex G. Spanos Stadium: 0.

Cal Poly will head South for the Big West Tournament starting on Wednesday at Cal State Northridge vs. the Matadors. If they win and Cal State Fullerton knocks off UC Davis, the Mustangs could host the Big West Championship on Saturday.

The Big West’s divisions were unbalanced this season — UCSB was in last place in the North, but had the same number of points (13) as Cal State Fullerton, who finished second in the South and qualified for the Big West Tournament. Sacramento State, the third-place finisher in the North with 16 points, also did not make it into the Big West Tournament.

Photos by David Livingston

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Photos by Owen Main

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Cal Poly forward Mackenzie Pridham scored a golden goal to give Cal Poly their first win in Santa Barbara in 14 years on Friday night. It was Pridham’s 9th goal of the season.

For Cal Poly fans, homecoming weekend began in winning fashion on Friday night. On the eve of the 6-0 football team hosting Portland State, the 1- volleyball team won their first conference match and the men’s soccer team beat UCSB 2-1 in Santa Barbara to  vault to the top of the table in the Big West Northern Division.

For the Volleyball team, the match went down to the wire. After winning the first set, Sam Crosson’s team lost the next two before winning the final two. The fifth set was won 17-15. The victory snapped a 15-match winless streak for the 2-18 (1-7 in the Big West Conference) squad.

The men’s team, who has had success throughout the season, did something they hadn’t done in 14 years — win at UCSB. The 16th-ranked Gauchos scored first in the 75th minute. Down 1-0, Cal Poly midfielder George Malki scored his third goal of the season with only 66 seconds left to send the match into overtime. In the sixth minute of overtime, Cal Poly’s leading scorer Mackenzie Pridham scored a golden goal, his ninth of the year, to send the tortilla-throwing Gaucho faithful home without any points for their team.

“It’s incredible, the heart of this team. We were scored on first, but the power and quality the guys showed tonight, they weren’t going to be denied,” seventh-year Cal Poly head coach Paul Holocher said. “We’ve come here so many times and been second best. They guys refused to have that feeling tonight.”

The win puts Cal Poly into a tie for 1st place in the Northern Division. UCSB remains on 10 points, three back of Cal Poly and Sacramento State and two points back of UC Davis.

Homecoming weekend continues this evening when the football team hosts Portland State and 6:05. We’ll be posting pictures and updates from the homecoming festivities during and after the game.

Photos by David Livingston

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