The Cal Poly women’s soccer team (9-9-1) finished its season with a 1-0 victory over Cal State Bakersfield (4-8-5) Sunday, holding CSUB to zero shot attempts for the game.
Both teams were slow to start the game in the first half, with Bakersfield recording no shot attempts and Cal Poly only recording three. Cal Poly’s closest scoring chance in the first half came in the 33rd minute off a corner kick from sophomore Cici Kobinski to senior forward Whitney Sisler who narrowly missed her shot off the goal post.
But in the second half the Mustangs were able to turn their offense on while still holding the Roadrunners at bay. Cal Poly had nine more shots in the second half while allowing Bakersfield no opportunities to score.
Sisler said Bakersfield’s inability to even get a shot off was due to a combination of both the back line and midfield locking down on defense.
“I think we finally had a back and middle that were solid and they got used to playing with each other. It just became a solid foundation for the lineup we were looking for,” Sisler said.
Cal Poly managed to break through in the 75th minute with a goal from sophomore Haley Walker, her second goal of the year. With no teammates in range for a pass, Walker dribbled the ball by herself up the middle and through the Roadrunners’ defense, before blasting a shot into the upper left corner of the net.
Walker said she was glad to have scored the goal and help give the seniors the win in their last game.
“It felt really great scoring the goal and I am happy for the seniors that we ended on a win because we love them and will miss them,” Walker said.
The goal would be enough for Cal Poly to seal their ninth win of the season and third in a row. Cal Poly won its last two conference games with a 1-0 win over UC Santa Barbara and a 3-1 win over UC Davis.
But there wasn’t a lot of celebration after the win since the team will not be advancing to the Big West Conference playoffs for the first time since 2005. Before their last three wins, the team had lost four straight conference games where Cal Poly was unable to score one goal in the stretch.
Head coach Alex Crozier said he was disappointed they weren’t able to advance to the playoffs but said injuries to leading scorers Bianca Burright and Sisler during that stretch contributed to the team’s lack of offense.
“We finished our season strong. We found the rhythm and we actually found the lineup that was working for us,” Crozier said. “We had some injuries earlier on. We were trying to force the formation that we were playing and it became apparent we needed to change (the formation). It took us a couple games to adjust to that and when we started to figure it out we started to play well, but unfortunately it was too late.”
In three of their last four Big West conference playoff appearances, Cal Poly advanced to the finals, but couldn’t capture the title with a win. The last time Cal Poly won the Big West conference was back-to-back in 2003 and 2004.