4-5-3, 2-1-1
Long Beach State
6-5-3, 1-2-2
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Cal Poly Secures Scoreless Draw at Long Beach State
10/5/2023 11:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Samuel grabbed seven saves and the Mustang backline put on a tackling clinic as Cal Poly women's soccer earned a hard-fought scoreless draw at Long Beach State on Thursday night to keep pace in the Big West standings.
With a 2-1-1 record in conference play and 7 points, Cal Poly (4-5-3) currently sits in a tie for third place in the Big West table.
Samuel and defenders Emma Brown, Aynsley Conner, Camryn Penn and Siena Urzua spearheaded a tremendous defensive effort by the Mustangs against an offensive minded Long Beach side.
"I think just collectively we really were able to manage the game," Samuel said after the match. " … It's always hard coming to Long Beach and playing on the road but I think we were able to lock down defensively and get the shutout, and I think moving forward we're always hungry for more."
At center back, Brown and Conner set the tone, stepping in front of balls and clearing away one Beach opportunity after another. Conner may have made the most pivotal defensive play of the night with about five minutes left, tackling Cherrie Cox in the box to stop a dangerous scoring chance for LBSU (6-5-3, 1-2-2 Big West).
Cal Poly had several high-quality scoring opportunities as well in a match that was evenly played throughout. In the 36th minute, senior Kate Reedy nearly gave the Mustangs the lead, blasting a shot from outside the box toward the top of the net that LBSU goalkeeper Zora Standifer barely got a touch on to send off the top of the crossbar.
The Mustangs were outshot 7-4 in the first 45 minutes, but they picked up their offensive prowess in the second half as freshman Annika Smith, who buried the eighth hat track in program history in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside this past Sunday, forced the Long Beach keeper to make a save less than five minutes in.
Reedy fired another solid shot on goal in the 65th minute, and in the final 30 seconds of the match graduate student Whitney Wiley blasted one toward the top of the net that Standifer just pushed over to force a corner.
Four of Samuel's seven saves came in the second half with her most clutch coming in the 76th minute when she denied a point-block shot by Cox headed toward the right post.
For Samuel, it was her 15th career shutout — tying her with Alli Tramel (2004-07) and Coral Hoover (2006-09) for the sixth most in program history. The defending Big West Goalkeeper of the Year has two clean sheets this season.
For the sixth consecutive match and the 11th time this season, Brown, a 2022 All-Big West First Team selection, played all 90 minutes.
Cal Poly heads to defending Big West tournament champion UC Irvine at 2 p.m. Sunday to cap a two-match road swing.
