Graig MantleDavid Zamora is the real deal.
The Cal Poly forward and freshman transplant from San Jose, Costa Rica scored all three of the Mustangs’ goals in Cal Poly’s 3-1 exhibition win over No. 11 California on Tuesday.
“He’s a goal-scorer” head coach Paul Holocher said. “He’s one of those guys that just lives to score goals and he’s not happy when he’s not scoring goals.”
The exhibition was the first men’s soccer game in the recently renovated Spanos Stadium and yielded an attendance of 2,821.
The Mustangs’ first goal came in the sixth minute on a corner kick from Kyle Montgomery which was headed toward the weak side by Josh Didion and then sent to the back of the net on another header by Zamora.
Didion was credited for the assist on the play.
“We scored on a great set-piece,” Holocher said. “So we get the early lead, which is great for our guys, you know, to give them confidence.”
The Golden Bears answered back 24:13 into the game with midfielder Carrasco Servando hanging one in unassisted from about ten yards outside of the top of the penalty area during a transition.
The shot was just out of reach for Cal Poly goalkeeper Eric Brannagan-Franco. Brannagan Franco had four saves in the game.
The Mustangs went down a man early in the second period with Daniel Gray receiving a red card for a hard tackle during the 54th minute. He was ejected from the game giving the Golden Bears a one-man advantage.
Gray’s ejection seemed to have little to no effect on the Mustangs as they maintained adequate control of the ball in offensive situations and were aggressive on defense.
“When we went down that player, the guys responded brilliantly to that adversity,” Holocher said. “We dropped in a player and played in a 4-4-1, and the main thing that we were coaching them from the sidelines, since there are no timeouts in soccer, was to keep them (California players) in front of you, make them play around the back but don’t let them penetrate, and they did a great job.”
Zamora picked up his second goal of the night in the 67th minute with an unassisted goal that was lobbed over California’s goalkeeper, Patrick Fry, from the right side about 15 yards out.
Zamora had come in from a rest on the bench just seconds before the goal was scored.
Zamora then capped scoring for the night at the 89:23 mark, again putting one in from about 15 yards out after a mishandling by California goalkeeper Jordan Bethke.
Despite the loss, California head coach Kevin Grimes was pleased with the opportunity to scrimmage with Cal Poly.
“It was a great atmosphere and we got the chance to play a very high-quality team in Cal Poly,” Grimes said. “The best thing about preseason games is that they tell you where you are exactly as a team. We were able to find out numerous answers about ourselves tonight that we would not have had in training.”
The Golden Bears were on their way back to Berkeley after spending preseason training in Southern California.
For Holocher, the win was a good starting point for the season.
“We’re going to keep it in perspective,” Holocher said. “This was a preseason game.”