Cal Poly Falls at UC Riverside, Still Has Chance to Earn Postseason Berth

Wednesday, October 28

Riverside, CA / UCR Soccer Stadium

6 P.M.

6-7-5, 3-4-3

UC Riverside

4-12-1, 2-7-1

Team	1	2	Final F
Cal Poly	0	0	0
UC Riverside	1	1	2

10/28/2026 10:35:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

$5 TICKETS TO SATURDAY'S MATCH

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In its final regular season road match, the Cal Poly women’s soccer team fell short at UC Riverside 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Despite the defeat, the Mustangs (6-7-5, 3-4-3 BW) still have a chance to earn a spot in the six-team Big West tournament when Cal Poly hosts Sacramento State at 1 p.m. Saturday in its regular season finale. At 12 points, Cal Poly currently sits in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings — the last spot in the postseason tournament — with Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. Due to their record against LBSU and UCSB (1-0-1) and their record against CSUN and California Baptist (1-0-1), who are tied for fourth place, the Mustangs have a very good chance of grabbing a spot in the Big West tournament with a win against the Hornets on Saturday. Cal Poly also owns head-to-head tiebreakers against CBU and UCSB.

“It took us awhile to get into this game.” head coach Bernardo Silva said after Wednesday’s match, “… we started off the second half really well, but it’s been the theme of our season, we have not been able to unlock and execute in the final third and at this point we’ve got to continue to take a hard look at ourselves and figure out as a coaching staff how else can we put our players in position to score, and our players need to execute as well because this is obviously not the standard for Cal Poly 2.0 and everything we’ve built.”

Late in the first half, UC Riverside (4-12-1, 2-7-1) was awarded a penalty kick after review following a foul committed by the Mustangs. The Highlanders converted the penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.

Early in the second half, Cal Poly looked determined to find an equalizer as senior Annika Smith fired an opportunity on frame just over three minutes in. The Mustangs continued pressing forward and controlling possession until a UCR goal in the 68th minute spoiled the momentum they were building.

In the dying seconds, junior Miah Thomas blasted a shot off the right post as the Mustangs were unable to find the back of the net for the second straight match.

“We’ll regroup … and we’re going to give it our all,” Silva said about preparing for Saturday’s pivotal regular season finale.

Tickets to Saturday’s regular season finale against Sacramento State at 1 p.m. at Spanos Stadium are just $5, and trick or treat bags and candy will be given to the first arriving kids while supplies last. You can purchase tickets HERE.