UCLA
Cal Poly Draws No. 17 UCLA in Front of Record Crowd
9/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Cal Poly men's soccer team doubled No. 17 UCLA's shot output on Friday evening, but in front of the 10th-largest regular season attendance figure in NCAA history, the Mustangs opened the home portion of their 2010 schedule with a scoreless draw against the Bruins.
Junior center back Patrick Sigler matched a career-best effort with five of Cal Poly's season-high 22 shot attempts, but with 8,717 supporters on hand, none of the program's seven attempts on target bested UCLA junior goalkeeper Brian Rowe. Mustang junior goalkeeper Patrick McLain proved equally adept, turning away the Bruins on four occasions.
"(The crowd) was unbelievable tonight and they showed that soccer is alive and well on the central coast. I'm proud and excited by the community that came out and the Cal Poly students (left) who love and support their soccer," said fifth-year head coach Paul Holocher, whose Mustangs advanced to 21-4-4 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium since the start of the 2007 campaign. "The crowd did everything it could to help us win."
In the first meeting between the two programs since Cal Poly (2-2-1) eliminated UCLA (3-1-1) during the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Bruins freshman forward Reed Williams produced the first serious scoring opportunity of the match, but his 28th-minute effort was stopped by McLain's head. Cal Poly's best effort of the opening half came seven minutes later as Sigler headed a corner kick by senior midfielder Junior Burgos into Rowe's gloves.
McLain was again in fine form during the 49th minute, thwarting a breakaway from Bruin freshman forward Victor Chavez. Cal Poly replied in the 62nd, as sophomore forward Chris Bernardi sliced a pass through the UCLA penalty area that senior forward David Zamora fired wide of the Bruin net. Another Sigler header – this time from a Wes Feighner throw-in – was muffled by Rowe in the 66th.
Cal Poly's final highlight opportunity to win the match in regulation occurred during the 77th, as Burgos (above) played a pass into Zamora. However, the Costa Rica native – who also finished with five shot attempts – was stopped at point-blank range by an approaching Rowe.
In the 102nd minute, Rowe charged off his line to break up a Cal Poly attack, but found himself fortunate after Burgos lined an attempt over the open-netted crossbar.
"I thought we played well tonight; well enough to win, but that's soccer. Sometimes you're deprived of victory," added Holocher, whose Mustangs posted a higher attendance figure on Friday than the Cal Poly football team did in either of its initial two home games. "We enjoyed a number of scoring opportunities from different players and not being predictable is what you want in attack. We just needed a little more quality in our finishing and composure in front of goal. It wasn't from lack of effort, however."
Cal Poly, which held UCLA to 11 shot attempts during the 110 minutes, produced eight corners to UCLA's six.
Friday's shutout was the 15th clean sheet kept by Mustang goalkeepers at home since 2007.
Cal Poly continues its three-match homestand on Thursday, Sept. 23 versus Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m.
