Graig MantleFreshman David Zamora and Kyle Montgomery led the Cal Poly men’s soccer team (7-1-1, 2-0-1) to a spectacular come-from-behind win over UC Irvine (5-3-3, 0-2-1) as they scored two goals within a minute and two seconds of each other in Poly’s commencement of its homestand Wednesday night.
The Wednesday night crowd of 1,355 was led by the Mustang Manglers, a boisterous group of men’s soccer followers.
An Anteater sophomore midfielder, Kevin Santora, silenced the crowd when he sent a shot past Poly goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco, just inside the left goal post from five yards out, 10 minutes into the game. He was unassisted.
Irvine struck again in the 19th minute of the game when forward Spencer Thompson sliced a ball past Branagan-Franco from 15 yards out. He was assisted by junior midfielder Matt Murphy.
The Mustangs kept the game physical despite being down by two for the rest of the first half.
Yet, for the majority of the time, the ball stayed on the Anteaters side of the field.
“We weren’t playing our game,” Zamora said of the first half.
Zamora and midfielders Montgomery and Mario Fernandez each had one shot attempt for the Mustangs in the half. The Anteaters outshot the Mustangs 5-3.
Montgomery commented on how head coach Paul Holocher motivated his team at halftime.
“He put some fighting words into us and we performed. We didn’t want to let him down,” Montgomery said.
The crowd grew after halftime and forward Ryan Anderson started out the second half aggressively for the Mustangs as he came feet away from scoring right off the kickoff.
The crowd ignited in the 64th minute of the game when midfielder Julian Alvarez scored his fourth goal of the season to lessen the Mustang deficit to one.
On a breakaway, Zamora kicked the ball out in front of him, past Anteater freshman goalkeeper Pat Barton, and Alvarez knocked the ball into the net before it went out of play.
Zamora shot a penalty kick after a yellow card was given to an Irvine player but he missed by inches as the ball bounced off the right goal post.
In the 82nd minute, Zamora tied up the game as he jetted past the defense to poke the ball in the goal. He was assisted by Montgomery.
Zamora had another shot attempt seconds after the kickoff and the Mustangs set up to take a corner kick.
The freshman duo struck again as Montgomery assisted Zamora as he jumped into the air and headed the ball into the net in the 83rd minute of play to put the Mustangs up 3-2.
“I feel great. It was a good performance. We came back, we showed everyone we could do it, we pulled out a win,” Montgomery said.
Zamora said the team had better passing, utilized spacing and had possession of the ball more in the second half.
He was glad his team upheld its undefeated record at home.
Cal Poly continues its homestand against the No. 2 scoring team in the nation, UC Davis, at 1 p.m on Sunday, Oct. 14.