No. 1 Seed Stanford
Cal Poly Will Take on No. 1 Stanford in NCAA First Round Friday
11/10/2025 8:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The Cal Poly women’s soccer team will face No. 1 seed Stanford in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at 6 p.m. Friday at Maloney Field at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
The Big West champion Mustangs (10-2-9) learned who they will take on in their first NCAA Tournament match in 21 years during a selection show on NCAA.com on Monday.
Cal Poly, who secured an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with its Big West Championship victory on Sunday, drew the Cardinal in its First Round match. Stanford is one of the four No. 1 national seeds in the 64-team field.
In its last NCAA Tournament appearance back in 2004, the Mustangs also took on Stanford in their First Round match, falling to the Cardinal 2-0 in Santa Clara.
The Cardinal (16-1-2) are the only team in the country to reach the College Cup in each of the last two seasons. Stanford won both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships this year, mostly recently winning a penalty kick shootout 5-4 over No. 2 Notre Dame in the ACC title match on Sunday.
Cal Poly is set to make its sixth appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament. The Mustangs defeated Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara 1-0 on Sunday to claim their first Big West Championship in 21 years and fourth overall. Senior forward Jessie Halladay buried the game-winning goal in the 89th minute, the fourth latest regulation go-ahead goal in program history. The Big West leader in goals (nine) and points (22) also netted the game-winner in the team’s Big West semifinal victory over Cal State Fullerton, allowing Halladay to earn Big West Championship MVP honors.
The winner of Friday’s contest between Cal Poly and Stanford will face the winner of No. 8 seed Alabama (11-8-1) and Northwestern (9-4-7) in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament next Thursday, Nov. 20.
