Cal Poly Opens Regular Season Thursday at Fresno State

Thursday, August 17

Fresno, CA / Bulldog Soccer Stadium

7 P.M.

Fresno State

Mackenzie Samuel, lineups, San Jose State, 081223

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Opens Regular Season Thursday at Fresno State

8/15/2023 2:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The journey toward glory for Cal Poly women's soccer begins Thursday when they open their 2023 regular season at Fresno State. First kick is set for 7 p.m. at Bulldog Soccer Stadium and the match can be seen live on the Mountain West Network.

The Mustangs, who return 15 letterwinners and four All-Big West honorees from their 2022 squad that secured the program's first outright Big West regular season title in nine years, are fresh off their first exhibition match of the fall. This past Saturday at Mustang Memorial Field Presented by French Hospital, Cal Poly dominated the run of play in a scoreless draw against 2022 Mountain West champion San Jose State, outshooting the Spartans 12-1 and suffocating SJSU's attack. The Mustangs will look to build off that defensive performance in their season opener.

CAL POLY VERSUS FRESNO STATE: The last regular season match between the two sides occurred nearly eight years ago on Sept. 6, 2015, when the Mustangs silenced the Bulldogs 4-0 in Fresno. Since their last regular season meeting, Cal Poly and Fresno State have squared off in exhibition matches three times, with the latest resulting in a 2-1 home victory for the Mustangs. Cal Poly leads the all-time series with the Bulldogs 10-5-0 and has won the last two meetings.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: A year ago, Fresno State posted a 1-14-4 overall record and a 1-8-2 mark in Mountain West play. The Bulldogs' lone victory of the season came at home against Nevada on Oct. 2. Fresno State returns its second-leading scorer from its 2022 squad — junior Kaelyn Miller (two goals, three assists) — and goalkeeper Valentina Vivas, who started in the final 11 matches last season, posting a 1.54 goals against average and making 28 saves.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: Cal Poly was formidable defensively last season, recording its most clean sheets in a season (10) since 2009 and posting a program-record seven shutouts in Big West play. That defensive prowess led the Mustangs to their first outright Big West regular season championship since 2013 and the right to host the Big West Championships as the No. 1 seed. Three members of the Mustangs' 2022 backline return this fall — juniors Emma Brown and Aynsley Conner and sophomore Camryn Penn. Brown received All-Big West First Team and United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Third Team honors a year ago, while Penn was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.

PRESEASON HONORS: Brown was selected to the 12-player All-Big West Preseason Coaches Team, while Cal Poly was picked second in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll despite receiving the most first-place votes (4). This fall, the Mustangs are seeking to earn a share of the conference regular season title for the third consecutive year. Last season as a sophomore, Brown started in all 19 matches, playing all 90 minutes in 18 of them. She led the team in total minutes with 1,705, recording the most minutes in a single season by a Cal Poly field player since Chelsea Barry (1,786) in 2017. Across her Cal Poly career, Brown has logged over 3,300 minutes without receiving a card.

MAC IS BACK: Mackenzie Samuel (pictured above), the defending Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, will look to build off an historic 2022 campaign that saw her post nine clean sheets, — tied for the third most in a season in program history — secure a program-record seven shutouts in Big West play and record 13 saves in a defeat at No. 12 Stanford, tied for the third most in a match in program history.

NEW FACES: Despite the amount of experience the Mustangs are bringing back this fall, they still have plenty of newcomers — 15 in fact. That group of newcomers is made up of 12 freshmen and three transfers — Jessie Halladay, Whitney Wiley and Brooke Golik. Halladay spent her freshman season at Loyola Marymount before transferring to Cal Poly this spring, Wiley is a grad transfer from New Hampshire with two years of eligibility left beginning this fall and Golik starred at center-back at SMU for four years (2018-21) before playing for the Cal Poly beach volleyball team this spring.

UP NEXT: Cal Poly hosts its second and final exhibition match of the season on Sunday against Cal State Monterey Bay. Kickoff is set for noon. Following that, the Mustangs will return to regular season action on Thursday, Aug. 24, when they travel to defending national champion and preseason No. 1 UCLA for a 7 p.m. match.