Having already been eliminated from playoff contention and playing in its final game of the 2011 season, the Cal Poly men’s soccer team (6-8-3, 3-5-1 BWC) dropped a 2-0 decision Friday to No. 17 UC Santa Barbara at Harder Stadium. In the final five matches of the season, the Mustangs managed to score just one goal, a stretch in which they’ve gone 0-4-1. Their last victory came in an upset of the Gauchos (12-5-1, 5-4 BWC) on Oct. 14 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
A common theme in 2011 for the Mustangs has been their inability to put shots into the back of the net, according to head coach Paul Holocher.
“We couldn’t score (this year),” Holocher said. “We didn’t do a good job of putting the ball in the back of the net. We lacked that killer instinct; we lacked the top-class finishing. You see (Luis) Silva here on Santa Barbara, he’s got 14 goals, (Sam) Garza has got nine. Those are the players that make a difference that push a team over the top. That killer finishing element wasn’t there for us this year.”
On that night, the Mustangs were outshot 19 to 11. Senior goalkeeper Patrick McLain, playing his final match in a Cal Poly uniform, was forced into making a season-high eight saves while his counterpart Andre Grandt was only tested once by the Cal Poly attack.
“We gave everything we had because, at this point, it was just a one-game season,” McLain said. “Credit to Santa Barbara, they did really well. I thought they were the better team, and they showed it.”
The Mustangs were outplayed by the Gauchos for most of the 90 minutes, bolstered by a hometown crowd of 13,822 — the largest in NCAA soccer this season, and fifth largest regular season attendance in history.
The Gauchos kept constant pressure on the Mustang defense with several key chances in the opening half, including a one-on-one attempt by sophomore forward Dom Sarle in the fifth minute that was denied by McLain and a shot off the left post by Silva in the 43rd minute.
The match’s opening goal belonged to junior forward Garza just 13 seconds into the second period, who used his speed to split two Cal Poly defenders on the right edge of the box and sent a driven shot high into the right corner of the net past McLain.
Cal Poly’s lone shot on frame came in the 49th minute when senior midfielder Ryan Anderson’s attempt was turned away by Grandt.
Santa Barbara doubled its lead in the 78th minute when Silva ran onto a long feed from Sarle near the middle of the pitch which he corralled and dribbled around McLain for his Big West leading 15th goal of the season.
“Silva just broke free,” McLain said. “It’s a situation we’ve found ourselves in way too many times this season. One-on-one to goal doesn’t really favor me. It’s disappointing to go out like that. It is what it is.”
For senior center back Patrick Sigler, the loss marked his final game as a Mustang.
“It’s tough going into a game that only counts for pride,” Sigler said. “It’s against Santa Barbara (and) we wanted to win. It would have been awesome to end our season with a win. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. It’s my final game at Cal Poly. I’m going to miss this rivalry, and I’m going to miss every game I’ve played here.”
Sigler also said the loss epitomized the 2011 season for the Mustangs.
“We got really unfortunate,“Sigler said. “We hit crossbars, we hit posts, we missed penalty kicks. I mean, it just didn’t fall our way this year. That’s just the way the game is sometimes.”
This year, the Mustang defense set program records for fewest goals conceded with 17 and fewest goals allowed per match with 0.94. The attack never found its groove, though, slotting only 15 goals in 18 total matches in 2011.
“We have to go find that (explosive) player, recruit him into this program or we have to develop it,” Holocher said. “That killer finishing element wasn’t there for us this year.”