San Francisco
Mustangs Down the Dons in Preseason Exhibition
8/6/2025 11:45:00 PM | Women's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Seniors Jessie Halladay and Camryn Penn both found the back of the net as the Cal Poly women’s soccer team defeated San Francisco 2-1 in a home exhibition match on Wednesday night.
In their lone home exhibition match this preseason, the Mustangs put forth a strong performance in front of a spirited crowd at Mustang Memorial Field Presented by Dignity Health French Hospital at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
“I’m really proud of the team,” first-year head coach Bernardo Silva said after the match. “I thought our first group did a tremendous job of executing the game plan and the things that we are working on. We want to make Spanos a really, really hard place to play and I think we did that to USF. I thought it was really hard for them to get out of their own half and I’m really proud of the two goals we scored.”
The two teams played two 50-minute periods followed by a penalty shootout.
Halladay got the Mustangs on the board first in the 14th minute, slipping past a defender on the left side of the 18-yard box near the endline and blasting a shot to the top right corner of the net. The Los Gatos, Calif. native has led Cal Poly in points each of the last two seasons.
In the 34th minute, Penn struck on a perfectly-executed play through the midfield. Junior Annika Smith threaded a pass past the Dons’ backline and to a wide open Penn flying down the left side who fired a blistering shot to the top of the net.
“We’ve been really focusing on building those connections and our sisterhood through the last week and a half of practice and I think you could really tell out here today,” senior Brennan Cole said after the match. “Even through the speed bumps we had, we put it all out there and it was amazing to see that and everyone putting the work in and all the effort, and to do it together is what really makes it special.”
An own goal in the 46th minute allowed San Francisco to cut Cal Poly’s lead in half and make it 2-1 at halftime.
In the second half, plenty of Mustangs saw the field, but the team didn’t lose a beat, holding the Dons scoreless for the entire second half to preserve the victory.
Cal Poly outshot USF 14-8 in the match with Halladay firing off seven of them. A total of 25 Mustangs saw action on Wednesday. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Alyssa Szarlacki played the entire first half in net and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Shannon Porubski was between the pipes for the final 50 minutes, making five saves.
The Mustangs wrap up preseason action at 2 p.m. Saturday with an exhibition match at Pepperdine.
