The Cal Poly men’s soccer team was defeated on penalty kicks by No. 20 UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Tournament on Wednesday night. The match was tied 2-2 after two overtime sessions.
It was the third meeting between the two teams in less than a month, with the Gauchos winning the season series 1-0-2.
The Mustangs (10-5-6, 5-2-4) opened scoring in the 16th minute on a goal by Julian Alvarez, who was set up off a free kick of Anton Peterlin.
The goal represented Cal Poly’s first score against UC Santa Barbara in 279 minutes of action.
Nick Perera evened the match in the 63rd minute and gave the Gauchos (10-5-5, 5-2-4) their first lead just three minutes later.
Things looked dire for the Mustangs, who were outshot 30-8, before a cross off a corner kick from Kyle Montgomery found Patrick Sigler, who tied the match 2-2 in the 77th minute.
Cal Poly missed its first two penalty opportunities, as goalkeeper Kristopher Minton made stops to put the pressure on.
Mustangs goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco stopped the Gauchos’ third penalty to keep Cal Poly in it.
Jacob Hustedt, Jose Garcia and David Zamora converted the final three opportunities for the Mustangs to keep them alive going into UC Santa Barbara’s final penalty kick, with which freshman midfielder Michael Tetteh put the game away for the Gauchos.
Branagan-Franco made 12 saves for the Mustangs, including 10 in the second half.
Cal Poly is widely thought to have a strong chance at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament due to the strength of its overall schedule.