Mustangs Look to Climb Big West Table Saturday at UCSD

Saturday, October 15

La Jolla, CA

7 p.m.

UC San Diego

Photo by: Owen Main

Mustangs Look to Climb Big West Table Saturday at UCSD

10/14/2022 10:23:00 AM | Men's Soccer

SAN LUIS OBISPO – One of three teams sharing sixth place in the Big West Conference on six points alongside Saturday's opponent – UC San Diego – the Cal Poly men's soccer program closes a two-match road trip at Triton Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m. for Cal Poly (1-9-3, 1-1-3), which improved two positions in the Big West table following a scoreless draw at CSUN (Oct. 12). The Mustangs, UC San Diego (6-6-2, 2-3-0) and UC Irvine (2-11-1, 2-3-0) all trail fifth place CSUN by a single point and Big West leader UC Santa Barbara (11 points) by five. Three further programs – Cal state Fullerton, UC Davis and UC Riverside – sit in second place with 10 points. With four conference matches remaining, the top six programs in the standings qualify for the Nov. 2, 5 and 12 Big West Tournament. With its last six matches decided by a single goal, UC San Diego fell at second place Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, 1-0.

FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Video via ESPN+ and live stats for Saturday's trip to UC San Diego will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.

CAL POLY VERSUS UC SAN DIEGO: With sophomore defender Ori Bitton supplying an assist, Cal Poly handed UC San Diego a 1-0 road defeat in the only previous Division I meeting last season.

PENNER SAVES THE DAY: Sophomore goalkeeper Gabe Penner turned away three CSUN shot attempts in Cal Poly's Oct. 12 scoreless draw – the last an 86th-minute penalty save to earn the Mustangs their road point. Penner, who made a career best five saves at Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 5), has played all 450 of Cal Poly's Big West minutes.

RUIZ SETS THE OFFENSIVE PACE … : Opening Big West action with goals in three successive matches, junior midfielder Tony Ruiz – owner of Cal Poly's lengthiest scoring streak in three years – remains eighth among Big West players with his three goals. Also Cal Poly's leader for shot attempts (17), assists (two) and points (eight), Ruiz – offseason transfer from two-year Hartnell College – has started in nine of 10 appearances this year.

… AND KLEINHAMMES FOLLOWS: Scorer of two goals through his first 26 matches as a Mustang, senior forward Max Kleinhammes doubled his Division I total in 43 minutes against UC Riverside (Oct. 8) to match midfielder Tony Ruiz for Cal Poly's scoring lead. Eighth among Big West goalscorers, Kleinhammes has started in 10 of 12 appearances this season.

MCTAGUE MAKES SIX: Freshman forward Sean McTague became Cal Poly's sixth different goalscorer this season when finding the back of the Cal State Fullerton net in the 83rd minute (Oct. 5). Alongside Tony Ruiz, freshman midfielder Riche Garcia (Houston Baptist, Sept. 5) and freshman forward Conner Lisenbee (UC Irvine, Oct. 2), McTague is also the fourth Mustang to score his first goal at the Division I level this season.

DEBUTANTE BALL: With Cal Poly featuring one of the youngest lineups in Division I (38 of the program's 44 rostered players are either freshmen or sophomores), 21 Mustangs have made their collegiate debuts this season.

CAL POLY SELECTED SIXTH IN BIG WEST CONFERENCE POLL: Highlighted by sophomore forward Drew Patterson's selection to the 11-player Big West Preseason Team, Cal Poly was selected for a sixth-place finish in the Big West standings following the Aug. 19 release of the annual coaches poll. Cal Poly earned 44 points and one first-place vote to finish directly behind third-place UC Davis (49), fourth-place UC Riverside (47) and fifth-place Sacramento State (46). UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, who split last year's regular season title, each collected 71 points to return to the top spot in the preseason poll.

UP NEXT (OCT. 19, OCT. 22): Cal Poly plays two of its final three regular season matches at home inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium, beginning on Wednesday, Oct. 19 versus Sacramento State. Undefeated against Sacramento State in its last three matchups, Cal Poly then plays its final road game of the regular season at Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Oct. 22.

ETC.: Sophomore defender Conner Leber and freshman midfielder Richie Garcia were both named to the all-tournament team at Ohio State's Wolstein Classic (Aug. 25, 28) … the 10,392-fan attendance figure for Cal Poly's Sept. 21 home matchup versus Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara marked the 25th largest regular season attendance figure in NCAA history and the largest crowd – by 3,853 people – in the nation this season … Cal Poly's 2-1 home win against UC Irvine (Oct. 2) was its first against the Anteaters in seven years.