Ryan ChartrandIt might seem Cal Poly men’s soccer head coach Paul Holocher would have reason to fret. After all, the Mustangs entered the year with their first-ever preseason top-25 ranking – No. 24 by College Soccer News – but have since been relegated to the “others receiving votes” category.
Holocher, though, is being patient.
“The polls this time of year are just trying to figure each other out,” he said. “There’s a feeling-out process.”
Those voters aren’t the only ones trying to draw conclusions from the first half of the year.
Cal Poly (5-2-2) hasn’t lost in five straight outings and boasts non-conference upsets over teams that were slotted in the top 25 (New Mexico and Evansville) but has just two shutouts and needed two overtimes against Division I-transitioning Cal State Bakersfield to ensure their only back-to-back wins.
“It’s been a little shaky at times, and our consistency hasn’t been there altogether,” Mustangs senior midfielder Anton Peterlin said. “But we’re a young team and things are starting to come together.”
Holocher also spoke of missed opportunities, but shared a sense of optimism.
“I think we could be 8-1, quite honestly,” Holocher said. “At the same time, I think we’ve learned a lot. We’re figuring things out. We’re definitely a better team now than we were at the beginning of the season, and that’s all that matters.”
The Mustangs left Sacramento State with a 1-1 draw Sunday and open Big West Conference play by hosting Cal State Fullerton in Alex G. Spanos Stadium at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We’re just expecting a war,” Holocher said of the “young, athletic and very technical” Titans (3-6) he thinks are “definitely better than their record.”
This year, the Big West implemented a conference tournament in which the top four regular-season teams will vie for an automatic bid to the College Cup.
Cal Poly, ranked third by the conference’s coaches in the preseason, currently resides right there in terms of overall records – trailing No. 16 UC Davis (8-1) and No. 22 UC Irvine (7-0-2) heading into 10 consecutive Big West opportunities.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position,” Holocher said. “If we do our part and win half of them and not lose the other half I think we’ll be in good position for the playoffs.
“It’s been kind of a weird season so far, especially in the West region, with a number of good conferences down,” he added. “Right now the Big West is by far the best conference in the West.”
The numbers back him up.
No. 4 Cal tops the NSCAA/adidas Far West rankings, but is followed by four Big West squads.
After facing the Titans, the Mustangs will visit UC Davis at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Aggies’ ascent shouldn’t have been unexpected, Holocher said.
“You could see it coming for the last few years,” he said.
Five-foot-9, 160-pound UC Davis senior forward Quincy Amarikwa (whose 18 points place him 10th in the country in per-game average), Holocher said, is “incredibly powerful” and a “special, special” player – the type to “come up every once in a while.”
Peterlin agreed.
“He’s crafty,” he said. “He can not be doing very much and then all of a sudden score. He’s an animal. He’s a very, very good athlete.”
His aggressive style of play, Holocher said, is a perfect fit for the Aggies, who have 10 seniors.
“With Davis, they’re not going to knock the ball around with 15, 20 passes on you,” he said. “They’re going to power the ball up the field. They’re very, very direct and there are no qualms about that for them. It’s tough for teams to handle.”
In order for the Mustangs to try to stave off that attack, they’ll have to be more consistent defensively and overcome the sort of “breakdowns” that occurred Wednesday in the 103-minute, 3-2 win over Cal State Bakersfield, Holocher said.
A key in that effort might be the revised approach of Peterlin.
“We identified some things to make him a better player,” Holocher said. “He’s a workhorse. He’s an engine – he can run for days.
“He can cover ground and I think that’s what he thought was great, great soccer,” Holocher explained. “As a defensive midfielder, sometimes he was running so much that he was getting exposed or we were getting exposed because he was running out of position. So we’ve asked him to run less and organize more, and I think that’s made a difference in his play.”
Overall defensively, the Mustangs have focused on addressing their positioning, field vision and pressure, Holocher said, in order to build on last season’s 11-4-4 campaign that was built on 10 shutouts.
“We’re real close to being a good, complete team,” Holocher said. “We’re getting there.”