Cal Poly freshman Justin Dhillon (11) celebrates after his first-half goal on Friday night. By Owen Main

The old saying goes, “a tie is like kissing your sister.” Cal Poly and UCSB learned how a Blue-Green tie truly feels, ending knotted at one goal apiece on Friday night in front of a sold-out 11,075 fans at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

In a hotly-contested match, Cal Poly scored early, gave up a goal at the end of the first half, and held-on for a 1-1 tie.

The game featured big plays by freshmen on both sides. Cal Poly’s Justin Dhillon began the scoring in the ninth minute. The tallest Mustang on the pitch, Dhillon headed a George Malki corner kick past UCSB goalkeeper Josh McNeely to give Cal Poly an early 1-0 lead. The Mustangs would give up the lead when UCSB’s Achille Campion found the back of the net in the final minute of the first half to tie the score. It would be the final goal of the match for either side.

“It was incredible,” said Dhillon of his first Blue-Green Rivalry experience as a player. “The fans here are awesome. I love representing my school and especially scoring a goal in front of them was unbelievable.”

With a relatively small team, Cal Poly’s corner kicks don’t usually get sent straight into the box, but Dhillon, the tallest field player on the pitch for the Mustangs, took advantage. The play that led to Dhillon’s goal was contrary to  how Cal Poly generally wants to play.

“We wanted to move the ball and the reality of tonight is that we had a very very difficult time communicating with the players on the field with all the noise,” said Holocher, who couldn’t give usual instructions on corner kicks. “So, for whatever reason, we played more direct than we normally do.

“It was a great goal. Really well-placed corner by George and [Dhillon] headed it down which is great. It’s good for him as a freshman to get a goal in this kind of environment.”

Dhillon’s ball squirted past the UCSB keeper and he and the team sprinted toward the Mustang Manglers section.

“George crossed the ball off a corner and I headed it home,” said Dhillon. “I just took off on a full sprint. I may have been tired but all that kind of slipped away, I was so excited, the adrenalyne was rushing through everything and it was unbelievable.”

With the tie, UCSB failed to win for the first time in 2013 Big West play. The Gauchos came into the game on a seven-game winning streak.

“They are number-one in our conference,” said Dhillon of the Gauchos.  “They are a very good team and I think we put up a good performance against them and ended up being the first [team] they’ve not won against in nine games.”

Two of Cal Poly’s seniors – George Malki and Chris Bernardi – team-up in their final home version of the Blue-Green Rivalry. By Owen Main

Holocher gave credit to UCSB after the game when asked how good they really are.

“I think they’re good enoguh to make a run in the NCAA playoffs for sure,” said Holocher. “I think they can beat anybody. They’ve got enough good, strong, big, physical individual players that make things difficult.”

For eight Cal Poly seniors, this was their final home edition of the Blue-Green Rivalry. It left some with a bitter taste.

“I’m definitely hurting inside, but I know my team and myself left everything on the field tonight and some things just didn’t go our way,” said Mackenzie Pridham, the Big West’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year and current goals leader.

Home fans and the Mustangs themselves were poised for a game-winning goal and a raucous student section having an opportunity to rush the field. Instead, fans had to settle for the tie.

“I kind of feel empty, in a way,” said Malki. “I’m glad we came out with a tie, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t come out with a win.”

Freshmen, though, may have played the two biggest roles in the game and cemented their roles in this matchup for years to come. Dhillon scored his second career goal and on the UCSB side, the freshman goalie, McNeely made his impact felt as well.

“Their goalkeeper had an unbelievable game,” said Pridham. “In my opinion he came up with four or five big-time game-changing saves. He had three or four on me, one on Ari, and a copule other big-time ones. He was on it.”

Cal Poly and UCSB play again on November 9th in the regular-season finale in Isla Vista. The game will be televised on Fox Sports West.

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Mackenzie Pridham winds up for the first goal of the game. By Owen Main

Two years ago, Cal Poly men’s soccer head coach Paul Holocher talked to me about a more open, visually pleasing style of play Cal Poly was trying to implement. It has taken some time and has been a process, but the benefits are being reaped for the Mustangs and soccer fans who like goals.

With a 5-1 dismantling of UC Riverside on Friday night, Cal Poly is now second in the nation with 2.7 goals per game. Just as importantly, the team moves to (1-0) in Big West Conference play and (8-3-0) overall. Mackenzie Pridham, who scored Cal Poly’s first goal on Friday, came into the game 11th in the nation in goals and netted his ninth in 11 games. He took a pass, spun to his left and scored with his left foot into the far right corner.

Cal Poly took their 1-0 lead into halftime, but turned up the intensity in the second half. Freshmen Ari Lassiter and Justin Dhillon provided a spark off the bench as Lassiter netted two goals to match Dhillon’s two assists. Dhillon also scored the first goal of his career within the final minute of the game to cap-off Cal Poly’s seventh game this season where they’ve scored 3-plus goals.

While there are always some scary moments with Cal Poly’s wide open style of play, the Mustangs continue honing their craft. The question remains whether their ball-control, open style of play can stand-up through an entire Big West Conference season with the likes of 6th-ranked Cal State Northridge, 25th-ranked UC Irvine, and two games against UCSB still on the schedule.

On Sunday, Holocher’s group hosts Cal State Fullerton at Alex G. Spanos Stadium at 3:00 PM.

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Mackenzie Pridham blasts the game-winning goal on Sunday afternoon vs. Yale. By Owen Main

The first Cal Poly soccer match I went to this year was a dud. The Mustangs looked listless, didn’t create many good chances, and lost to Gonzaga in overtime. It looked like it was happening all over again.

On Sunday, it looked nearly like a carbon copy of the Gonzaga match, except Yale took advantage of Cal Poly’s mistakes and went ahead 2-0 at halftime. While they had the run of play, they used a lot of less-effective long passes and were to crack the middle part of the final third of the field. A defensive mistake by Cal Poly and a timely counter fr

Connor Drechsler put Cal Poly within 2-1 early in the second half on a cross from Chris Bernardi. Bernardi, who comes off the bench for Holocher, has looked like the fastest, most effective Mustang with the best first touch in the two games I’ve been to this season. In short, he puts a lot of pressure on defenders. Dreschler has three career goals on only three career shots on goal.

During the final 20 minutes of the second half, Yale did everything they could to legally bleed the clock. As Cal Poly’s offense started to turn up the pressure, two Bulldogs went down with what seemed like leg cramps. They subbed players every few minutes. They took their time on free kicks.

But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

With less than 90 seconds left in the match, sophomore Matt LaGrassa fired a left-footed blast into the right side of the net to tie the match. Yale’s collective hands went to their heads. Mustangs players climbed briefly onto the barrier with the stands in front of the Mustang Manglers section.

In overtime, Cal Poly persevered. Mackenzie Pridham, who had played a very physical second half, finally found himself free and quickly buried the game-winner past Yale keeper Blake Brown in the 100th minute to cap the comeback.

Chase Minter celebrates with Matt LaGrassa (20) after LaGrassa’s game-tying goal. By Owen Main

The final 55 minutes of the match– the second half and overtime — were a dominant display by Cal Poly. As discussed in my soccer preview, if the Mustangs are going to have any chance at the Big West title, careless mistakes at the back line cannot happen. A team like UCSB, Davis, or Cal State Northridge will be nearly impossible to come back on from 2-0 down in a game like Sunday’s.

I always find Paul Holocher’s comments about style of play interesting. While Yale consistently played in the second half with 8 players behind the ball defensively, Cal Poly did their best to keep the field open, maintain possession, and use the whole pitch.

I would rather lose trying to play this way than win in another way. I think our fans appreciate how we get things done as much as the outcome,” said Holocher.

In other words, the team needs to get better at the style of play, particularly with turnovers deep in the defensive zone. Holocher’s team will play two games in Colorado next week before starting conference play.

Photos by Owen Main

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Pridham’s Goal – Video

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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