Cal Poly men's soccer poised for playoff push

After a 2007 that saw the Cal Poly men’s soccer team put together its best season at the Division I level, it’s ready to make the playoffs this year.

Only three of 33 players graduated from last year’s Mustangs, who finished 11-4-4 overall and third in the Big West Conference at 6-2-4. During the season, Cal Poly won or tied 11 straight. The streak was highlighted by a 2-1 upset of defending national champion UC Santa Barbara before a crowd of 7,143 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, shattering the program’s 11-year-old attendance record of 2,694.

After just missing out on a College Cup appearance, eight starters from that team are back, including 2007 Big West Freshman of the Year and Soccer America Freshman All-American David Zamora, a forward who led the Mustangs with six goals and five assists for 17 points.

Such a high carryover has led to a No. 24 ranking in the College Soccer News preseason poll.

“The team in general feels confident that we can make the playoffs this year for sure,” sophomore forward and 2007 All-Big West Second Team member Kyle Montgomery said. “We all know we have the talent – it’s just a matter of putting it together.”

The season opener is 1 p.m. Sunday at Spanos Stadium against Air Force, which went 5-12-1 last season.

“(The Falcons) are probably pretty direct in how they play,” Cal Poly head coach Paul Holocher said. “They’re going to be a handful.”

A date Holocher said his team is especially excited for is an Oct. 17 welcoming of UCSB that will take place on the anniversary of the two teams’ historic last meeting in San Luis Obispo.

Holocher said he’s hoping to again rewrite the attendance mark, shooting for at least 8,000, as Fox Soccer will nationally televise the game.

“We play a pretty attacking brand of soccer with a lot of focus on the quality of our passing,” Holocher said. “I think it’s fun for the fans to watch and I think it made a lot of people soccer fans last year.”

Much of the Mustangs’ renewed energy comes from the leadership and experience of returning seniors – some of whom have already accumulated up to 60 games under their belts.

“With our senior class, this is going to be my third year working with these young men,” Mustangs assistant coach Brian Reed said. “It’s (Holocher’s) fourth year working with three of them because (seniors) Julian Alvarez, Jeff Meyer and Anton Peterlin came down with (Holocher) from (UC) Santa Cruz.

After the Mustangs’ opener against Air Force, their non-conference slate includes the Loyola Marymount Tournament (featuring a home game against Kentucky) from Sept. 5-7 and the New Mexico Tournament from Sept. 12-14.

It should be a varied build-up to the Mustangs’ foray into play in the Big West, which implemented a conference tournament wherein the top four regular-season squads will vie for an automatic bid to the College Cup.

“I think this year, the Big West is a conference that could deserve three teams in the NCAA playoffs, and the Big West championship can possibly help with that,” Holocher said.

Cal Poly was tabbed to finish third in the Big West coaches preseason poll, behind UCSB and UC Davis.

“I thought they were right-on,” Holocher said of the predictions. “Top-to-bottom, the Big West is great.”

The Gauchos garnered six first-place votes along the way to 47 points overall, while the Aggies collected the remaining first-place ballot and 39 points altogether, just one ahead of Cal Poly. Big West play begins Oct. 1 against Cal State Fullerton.