Cal Poly Falls Short to No. 1 Seed Utah Valley in Big West Semifinals

Saturday, November 7

Orem, UT

5 P.M. PT

8-8-5, 4-4-3

Utah Valley

14-4-3, 9-0-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Cal Poly	0	0	0
Utah Valley	2	1	3

Utah Valley, Postgame Huddle, Big West Semifinals, 110726

Photo by: Chloe Briote-Johnson

11/7/2026 8:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

OREM, Utah — The Cal Poly women’s soccer team saw its season come to an end Saturday night at UCCU Stadium in Orem, Utah, falling 3-0 to No. 1 seed Utah Valley in the Big West Championship semifinals.

Just three days after defeating No. 4 seed California Baptist 1-0 with four seconds remaining in double overtime in the Big West Championship First Round, the Mustangs were tasked with battling this year’s Big West regular season champions for a spot in the title match. They gave it their all, the Wolverines were just tough to tame.

“I thought the girls emptied the tank,” head coach Bernardo Silva said after the match, “I thought they did a tremendous job from an effort standpoint, I just thought our execution wasn’t quite where we needed it to be.”

The Wolverines, who received votes nationally in the latest coaches poll, scored two goals six minutes about midway through the first half to gain a stranglehold on the match.

Cal Poly came out with a much stronger effort in the second half, making the Big West regular season champions fight for every blade of grass to stave off the Mustangs.

Junior Miah Thomas, Cal Poly’s leading scorer this season, fired a blistering shot on frame off a free kick from about 25 yards out in the 57th minute that the Utah Valley goalkeeper reached up and kept out of the top right corner of the net.

Senior Annika Smith and junior Isis Salazar-Ortega both had dangerous looks at net late, but the Wolverines added another goal in the 82nd minute to seal the victory.

Making their second straight postseason appearance under Silva, the Mustangs were looking to defend their Big West tournament title and achieve just their second back-to-back championship in program history (2003-04).

Cal Poly finishes the year with an 8-8-5 overall record and is expected to return a majority of its starters next season.

“Really proud of our seniors, I love them dearly,” Silva said, “… this one hurts, but I’m really proud of the team and the performance tonight.”

After some disappointing defeats late in the season, Cal Poly found a way to earn a spot in the postseason with a victory in its regular season finale and took down CBU to secure a trip to the Big West semifinals for the fifth time in six seasons — a testament to the culture Silva has established in his two years at the helm.

“We had a tough stretch at the end of the season there,” he said, “but pretty incredible the resilience that the group showed and the togetherness … that’s what makes season’s special though is when you have to dig deep for one another and really try to find different ways to win games, and we did that.”