Cal Poly Hosts Long Beach St. for Conference Opener at 7 p.m. Thursday
10/1/2019 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly opens its Big West Conference schedule on Thursday night, as the Mustang women's soccer team hosts Long Beach State in Alex G. Spanos Stadium at 7 p.m.
Free scarves will be handed out to the first 250 fans on Oct. 3.
The Mustangs capped non-league play with a 2-1 overtime comeback win over Seattle U on Sept. 29, improving to 3-7-1 overall, including 2-1-0 at home in 2019. Long Beach State wrapped non-conference action on Sept. 26 with a 3-0 loss to No. 5-ranked BYU, going 2-7-0 through the first month-and-a-half of the season. Long Beach achieved the 'double' as defending conference champions in 2018, winning both the regular-season and Big West Tournament titles.
In Cal Poly's win over the Redhawks, Camille Lafaix tallied a late equalizer to force overtime (via an 88th-minute header off a free kick from sophomore Clare Murphy), before Jordan Patane scored the golden goal by converting a penalty four minutes into OT. Meanwhile Danielle Anderson and Kylie Rojas played complete-game 94-minute efforts to lead the defense against Seattle.
Eight different Mustangs have scored on the year, led by Lafaix's trio of goals (along with two assists). Nikki Trucco, Megan Hansen, Olivia Ortiz, Rojas, Sidra Bugsch, Brooke Oleson and Patane also have one goal each, while Brooke Rubinstein and Madison Demijohn have also recorded assists. Bugsch, Lafaix and Hansen are tied for the team high in starts this fall, all with 11. Hansen has played the most minutes among the Mustang XI so far this year: 835, mostly central to the midfield.
The top four schools in the regular-season conference table — which awards 3 points per victory and 1 per draw — qualify for the Big West Tournament, with the semifinals scheduled for Nov. 7 and the championship game Nov. 10. This year's regular-season No. 1 seed will host the conference tournament immediately after finishing in first place, a change from in years past where the previous season's regular-season champ won hosting rights for the year ahead.
Camille Lafaix's clutch header vs. Seattle off Clare Murphy's perfect free kick is the @CPMustangs #GoalOfTheWeek! �� #RideHigh pic.twitter.com/jY2AIsRyJI
— Cal Poly W. Soccer (@CPWomensSoccer) September 30, 2019
BROWN CLIMBING IN RECORD BOOK: Including her pair of saves (one of which crucially came in OT) vs. Seattle, goalkeeper Sophia Brown begins this week with 325 career saves, No. 2 all-time at Cal Poly. The senior from Pleasanton is 55 back of Alyssa Giannetti's school-record total of 380 saves from 2012-15.
Brown — selected as Big West Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30 — also ranks No. 7 in conference history for career saves.
LAFAIX'S HISTORIC DAY: Camille Lafaix earned a brace and added an assist on Sept. 15, helping Cal Poly top Idaho State 3-1 in a neutral-field match at Montana.
Her performance during the victory over the Bengals marked the first game in which a Mustang has reached five 'points' in the NCAA statistic (one goal equals 2 'points'; an assist equals 1) since Oct. 4, 2015, when future NWSL pro Elise Krieghoff, a USWNT U-23 camp invitee, also had two goals plus an assist at Hawai'i.
SCOUTING LBSU: Kaylee Ramirez leads Long Beach State's attack with two goals, while Katie Pingel has distributed two assists in addition to being one of six teammates who've also tallied a goal apiece.
Kaitlin Fregulia, the 2017 Big West Defensive Player of the Year, leads the LBSU back line, having played in every match this year in her return to the pitch.
In goal, Marta Alemany Sanchez has a 1.44 GAA along with a .744 save percentage, while Ashley Seymour (2.65gaa / .625sv%) has started the past two games for The Beach. Three of LBSU's defeats have come to top-10 opponents in UCLA, Penn State and BYU, while The Beach's wins came vs. San Diego (2-1 in double-overtime) on Sept. 2 and Drexel (a 3-0 shutout Sept. 8).
In the all-time rivalry between the two, Cal Poly holds a 12-8-4 lead, while LBSU won last year's matchup in double-OT, 1-0 thanks to a 102nd-minute golden goal from Elysia Laramie.
SAVE THE DATES: The rest of this season's remaining home slate also features additional giveaways and more community events inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium:
Sunday, Oct. 27 vs. Cal State Fullerton (2 p.m.)
Admission is free for kids 13-and-under on Mustang Family Weekend.
Friday, Nov. 1 vs. UC Irvine (7 p.m.)
Coinciding with the Mustangs' Alumni Weekend, all Cal Poly professors receive free admission on Faculty Appreciation Night.
Sunday, Nov. 3 vs. UC Riverside (2 p.m.)
Admission is again free for kids 13-and-under as Cal Poly celebrates Senior Day.
FOLLOW THE MUSTANGS: Mustang tickets are available at GoPoly.com, by calling (805) 756-4849 or by visiting the sidewalk window at the on-campus Performing Arts Center from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Families are encouraged to sign up for the Mustang Kids Club ($10 per child 8th-grade-or-under), as over $300 in benefits include ongoing free admission to all 2019-20 regular-season soccer, volleyball, wrestling & women's basketball events along with select football, men's basketball and baseball games; plus invitations to exclusive events; opportunities to be an honorary captain at Mustang home games; a birthday card from Musty; free gelato at SLO Sweets every month (along with birthday scavenger hunts) and a T-Shirt.
Cal Poly students always get into games for free, and are also invited to join the Stang Gang. Stang Gang, Cal Poly's student fan group, features several rewards for a $10 one-time lifetime registration fee, including prizes from sponsors such as Adidas, Amazon, Breakfast Buzz, Eureka Burger, Frank's Famous Hot Dogs, Mr. Pickles, Old San Luis BBQ, SLO Sweets, Splash Café, Visa and Woodstock's Pizza, a member T-shirt, and more upon reaching point levels by checking-in at games.
Photos © Owen Main / Nathan Nybakke
#RideHigh
