Cal Poly defender Kip Colvey competes with a Temple attacker Friday night at Spanos Stadium. Photo by David Livingston.

So I guess this FC Barcelona-style thing seems to be coming around.

On Friday night, the Cal Poly men’s soccer team defeated Temple 4-1 behind a pair of goals from speedy junior midfielder Chris Bernardi. The victory put Cal Poly about .500 at 3-2 on the season.

The Owls stayed in the game in the first half, despite Cal Poly’s 10 shots on goal and at halftime, the score was 1-1.

In the second half, the Mustangs used two goals from Bernardi and one from Chris Gaschen to pull away. Gaschen is Cal Poly’s active career scoring leader with 8 career goals.

Bernardi’s two goals made for the first multi-goal game for a Cal Poly player since David Zamora hung a hat-trick on Cal-State Northridge in October of 2009.

After an 0-2 start to the season, Cal Poly has won three matches in a row.

Mustangs goalie Chase Hauser made 3 saves in the contest. On Sunday, the Mustangs host Army at Spanos Stadium (1 pm) for the first time ever.

Notes: Cal Poly out-shot Temple for the game 18-12. This was the second game of a five-game homestand for the Mustangs. Next weekend will be a busy one at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Men’s Soccer will host Harvard on Friday night, followed by a home football game vs. UC Davis on Saturday. On Sunday, Men’s Soccer will play host to 13th-ranked UCLA. 

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Among other things, Coach Holocher talked about player development on the Central Coast and across the United States, the importance of well-qualified youth soccer coaches, and the inherent difficulties of developing world-class soccer players throughout the country. Having played in the college and professional ranks including overseas and in the MLS, Holocher has an interesting perspective on soccer in this country.

I caught up with Coach Holocher on the phone from an Olympic Development Program tournament in Oregon.