Mustang Women's Soccer Heads to Saint Mary's for Season Opener

Thursday, August 18

Moraga, CA / Saint Mary's Stadium

4 P.M.

Saint Mary's

Emily Nedom celebrates, Westmont, 8-10-22

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustang Women's Soccer Heads to Saint Mary's for Season Opener

8/16/2022 11:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly women's soccer will get its 2022 regular season underway Thursday when they travel to Saint Mary's College for a 4 p.m. match.

The Mustangs put a bow on preseason play this past Saturday with a 1-1 draw in an exhibition at San Jose State. Last Wednesday, they defeated NAIA Westmont 2-0 in their first exhibition match. The Gaels notched a 1-1 record in exhibition matches, suffering a 1-0 defeat against UC Davis on Aug. 7 and recording a 3-0 victory over Sacramento State on Aug. 13.

FOLLOW CAL POLY: You can follow the live stats for Thursday's season-opening match here. A live stream is available on the West Coast Conference website.

CAL POLY VERSUS SAINT MARY'S: The Mustangs suffered a 2-1 loss to Saint Mary's last season, and are 4-6-1 all-time against the Gaels. Cal Poly's last victory over Saint Mary's came back on Aug. 28, 2016 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium when Jessica Johnson scored the second-fastest golden goal in program history (1:31 into overtime) to give the Mustangs a 1-0 win.

SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S: Last season, the Gaels (10-4-4 overall, 4-3-2 WCC in 2021) recorded 10 wins for the first time in a decade, achieved their best winning percentage (.667) since 2001 and received votes in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll for the first time 2004. Saint Mary's lost 12 seniors from that team, but returns leading scorer and Preseason All-WCC selection Suzuna Shibukawa, who scored the most goals in a season by a Gael since 2014 by tallying eight in 2021. Head coach Theresa Romagnolo is in her third year at Saint Mary's, who was picked to finish sixth in the 10-team WCC Preseason Poll.

WATCH LISTS: Three Mustangs — sophomore defender Emma Brown, senior midfielder Camille Lafaix and senior forward Nikki Trucco — were named to preseason "Players to Watch" lists by the United Soccer Coaches in lead up to the 2022 season.

PRESEASON ALL-BIG WEST: Trucco and Lafaix were both selected to the 11-player Big West Preseason All-Conference Team released Monday. As a team, the Mustangs were picked to finish second in the Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll, along with Long Beach State. UC Irvine, the defending Big West Tournament champs, claimed the top spot in the poll.

LOADED WITH EXPERIENCE: The Mustangs return six starters, 22 letterwinners and four United Soccer Coaches All-West Region selections from their 2021 squad that secured a share of the program's first Big West regular season title since 2013.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER: Cal Poly returns over 90 percent of its goal production from a year ago and its top four goal scorers, including Trucco, who netted the 12th-most goals in a single season in program history with 10.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Goalkeeper Mackenzie Samuel started eight matches last season as a freshman, recording four shutouts, a 0.74 goals against average and a .778 save percentage to earn All-Big West second team honors.

UP NEXT: Cal Poly will welcome Iowa to Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 21 for its home opener. Kickoff is slated for 10:30 a.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.