Mustangs headed to NCAA Tournament

At this time last year, the Cal Poly men’s soccer team was lamenting about not being chosen for the NCAA Tournament despite accomplished credentials.

This year, the Mustangs (10-5-6, 5-2-3 Big West Conference) will try to show the selection committee that it made the right choice Monday in admitting them to the 48-team field.

Cal Poly will visit UCLA at 7 p.m. Friday at Drake Stadium in the first round of the tournament in a rematch of a 2-1 Bruins victory Nov. 8.

Sophomore forward David Zamora said he’s happy to be part of the team that broke the Mustangs’ 13-year playoff drought.

“It feels great,” Zamora said. “This is the first time in a long time that the school will go to the tournament. I’m very proud to be a part of this team.”

After the pain of being left out last year, Zamora said he was glad that the selection committee had taken note of the Mustangs this season.

“It’s great that the committee took us into account and voted in favor of us,” he said. “They’ve been watching us.”

Cal Poly finished second in the Big West regular season and was knocked out of the tournament by UC Santa Barbara. That loss put the Mustangs’ season in the hands of the selection committee.

Head coach Paul Holocher said that being selected for an at-large bid was a big step in the right direction for the program.

“When you get selected by the committee, it means you are being respected on the national level, not just the regional level,” Holocher said. “Coaches and administrators from around the nation saw our speed and they saw our level of competition against UC Santa Barbara on national television.”

Holocher said he was relieved when he got notice that the team would play again this season.

“I was just hopeful to get the call,” Holocher recalled. “I was looking at our players, recalling all the hard work. When I saw our name on the board, it was a mixture of relief and joy.”

After the moment had passed, Holocher was back to work getting his team ready for the five-time national champion Bruins.

“We will go back and review the game film and try to improve our game plan against them,” Holocher said. “They’re a very good team going forward and attacking.”

Zamora, who scored the lone Cal Poly goal on an 88th-minute penalty kick against UCLA, said that having played the Pac-10 Conference champion Bruins (10-4-6, 7-1-2) recently will help the team in its preparation.

“I think it will help us a lot,” Zamora said. “Now we know what to expect.”

Zamora said that one of the things the Mustangs will expect is having a difficult time putting the ball in the net against UCLA goalkeeper Brian Perk.

“He’s really good,” Zamora said of Perk, a member of the U-21 national team. “I got a header and I don’t even know how he reacted. It was a really good header; he has great reflexes. He’s not unbeatable, but he’s definitely really good.”

Zamora said that the team is glad to be in the tournament after a long delay, but he expects that the Mustangs will accomplish great things on a yearly basis now.

“Now that we’ve made it to the playoffs, we’re going to try to make it a tradition,” Zamora said. “We’re going to take a taste of what the playoffs are and we want to keep that going.”