Ryan ChartrandWith the dawn of a new year comes the beginning of new sports seasons. Gone are the fall games of volleyball, soccer and football.
The spotlight shone brightly on the fall athletic season at Cal Poly, as the school gained unprecedented national recognition.
Cal Poly men’s soccer played a nationally televised game in front of a sellout Alex G. Spanos stadium.
The Mustangs were even mentioned on ESPN’s Sportscenter and College Football Overdrive as they came up just shy in their historic attempt to dethrone a bowl-bound Big Ten football team.
Let’s take a look back at some highlights of the Cal Poly fall athletic season.
Women’s volleyball
The Mustangs played one of the most competitive non-conference schedules in the nation over the fall.
Cal Poly played five teams ranked 10th or higher. They took a set at home against No. 2 Stanford and hosted No. 4 Nebraska early in the season.
The Mustangs also played No. 6 Hawai’i twice, No. 8 California and No. 10 Minnesota.
Three seniors played their final matches for Cal Poly over the fall. Opposite Kylie Atherstone, middle blocker Jaclyn Houston and outside hitter Ali Waller leave Cal Poly as one of the most distinguished senior classes in the program’s history.
Atherstone, a two-time Big West Conference Player of the Year, is the Mustangs’ career leader in aces and is second in career kills (1,754) and hitting attempts (4,372). She made the all-Big West Conference First Team for the fourth consecutive year.
Houston, who joined Atherstone on the first team for the third time, is the Cal Poly career leader in blocks (550), which also places her second in Big West history.
Waller, a 2007 all-Big West Conference First Teamer, finished her collegiate career seventh in school history with 3,305 hitting attempts and ninth with 1,130 kills.
Cross country
Behind the strong running of Daniel Gonia, the Mustangs won their sixth-consecutive Big West championship and finished 23rd at the NCAA Championships in Indiana.
Gonia won the Big West Men’s Athlete of the Year award while head coach Mark Conover was named Coach of the Year and Brienna Morris was named Freshman of the Year.
Gonia was the third consecutive Cal Poly runner to win the Big West individual title while Evan Anderson finished second. In all, the Mustangs would claim five of the top seven spots at the Big West meet.
Women’s soccer
Cal Poly finished the season with a 10-9-1 record and a third place finish in the Big West conference, falling to UC Santa Barbara on penalty kicks in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
The Mustangs lost six seniors at the conclusion of the year, including forward Ashley Vallis, who leaves Cal Poly as the ninth-leading scorer in school history. She finished her senior year with a team-high five goals and 13 points and was named to the All-Big West Conference Second Team.
Junior defender Carrie Andrews was named an all-conference first team performer for the third time in her career as she also came away with 2008 Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
Joining Andrews and Vallis in earning conference honors were Leah Morales who received Second Team recognition along with Meggie O’Hagan, Kristina Condon-Sherwood, Carissa Voegele and Coral Hoover who received honorable mention.
Head coach Alex Crozier became just the fifth coach in school history to win over 200 games for the program.
Men’s soccer
The Mustangs finished with an 11-6-6 record and a second-place tie in a very competitive Big West Conference.
Cal Poly hosted UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 17 in a nationally televised matchup of Central Coast rivals that included the third largest crowd in NCAA history.
While the Mustangs would fall on that night to the Gauchos in double overtime, and in the conference semifinals, the tournament selection committee granted Cal Poly only its second NCAA tournament berth in school history.
After being left out in 2007, the Mustangs were determined to prove that they belonged in the field, beating UCLA 1-0 for the school’s first NCAA tournament victory at the Division I level.
Among the departed seniors for Cal Poly is goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco. He leaves the team holding virtually every major record including saves in a season (105), save percentage (.820), and he tied his own record of nine shutouts.
Branagan-Franco also leaves with school career records in save percentage (.805), goals against average (0.93) and shutouts (25).
Midfielder Julian Alvarez also leaves the Mustangs after having climbed to fifth in school history with 39 points.
Cal Poly was heavily represented in the postseason conference awards as Branagan-Franco won Co-Goalkeeper of the Year and defender Patrick Sigler won Co-Freshman of the Year. The two were joined on the conference First Team by midfielder Anton Peterlin while Alvarez, midfielder Kyle Montgomery and forward David Zamora were both named to the Second Team.
Football
Cal Poly, which spent seven consecutive weeks ranked third in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) polls, finished the season with an 8-3 record, a Great West Conference championship and a berth in the FCS playoffs.
The Mustangs defeated Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) San Diego State to open the season. It would stand as one of only two victories by the FCS over an FBS team during the season.
In the season finale against Big Ten Conference foe and bowl-bound Wisconsin, the Mustangs would come up just short in their bid to become only the third team in FCS history to defeat two FBS teams in the same season.
Cal Poly’s offensive production was at record-levels this year as they finished the regular season leading the nation in scoring offense (44.4) and total offense (487.45 yards per game).
Quarterback Jonathan Dally’s 183.82 passer rating would be an FCS record, but he does not have the number of attempts to qualify.
Running back James Noble broke the school record for career rushing touchdowns as he finished his Cal Poly career with 35.
Wide Receiver Ramses Barden broke almost every conceivable mark during his Cal Poly career, including all-time FCS records of consecutive games with at least one touchdown reception (20) and career games with a scoring catch (32). Barden would also tie Randy Moss’ FCS record for consecutive games with a touchdown reception in a single season (11).
Barden finished fourth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award (given to the FCS’ most outstanding offensive player) and will play in the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 17.
The Mustangs dominated the conference postseason awards on the offensive side of the ball as Barden, Dally and Noble were joined by offensive lineman Stephen Field on the All-Great West Conference First Team.
The defense was also represented with defensive lineman Sean Lawyer joining linebackers Carlton Gillespie and Fred Hives and defensive backs David Fullerton and Asa Jackson all making the First Team.
Wide receiver Tre’Dale Tolver and defensive lineman James Chen were named to the Second Team while running back Ryan Mole received honorable mention.
The Mustangs nearly swept the individual conference awards as Barden was named Offensive Player of the Year, Jackson won Top Rookie and head coach Rich Ellerson was named Coach of the Year.