The Cal Poly men’s soccer team split their final two road matches of the season, defeating UC Davis 3-2 on Wednesday and falling to Sacramento State 5-1 on Saturday night. The Mustangs are now 6-9-1 overall and 2-5-1 in the Big West.
Freshman goalkeeper Jason Hernandez made his first start against UC Davis, recording five saves. The game was scoreless through the first 73 minutes until graduate student midfielder Alex Sanchez drove a free kick to senior forward Kaba Alkebulan who headed the ball in to give the Mustangs the first goal of the game.
In the 80th minute, Cal Poly freshman forward Angel De Leon scored his first goal of the season and doubled the Mustangs’ lead.
UC Davis came back and scored with five minutes left to play when Aggie forward Adam Mickelson converted a free kick past Hernandez. Forty-eight seconds later, UC Davis tied the game when forward Matt Baringer headed a cross past Hernandez.
Junior forward Sean Goode scored the game winning goal for the Mustangs in the 91st minute to give the Mustangs the victory.
On Saturday, the Mustangs were tied with Sacramento State 1-1 heading into the second half before the Hornets scored four unanswered goals. Senior defender Adam Olsen’s penalty conversion in the 43rd minute was the only goal for the Mustangs at Hornet Field.
Hornets’ forward Justin Bedig scored his third goal of the season just six minutes into the second half. Sacramento State scored its third goal in the 63rd minute and Hornets’ forward Paul Geyer and Brad Bumgarner scored in the 74th and 75th
minute, respectively.
The top three programs in the Big West North Division qualify for the Big West Tournament. Cal Poly currently sits in fourth place. The Mustangs close the regular season by hosting UC Davis on Wednesday and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.