Ryan ChartrandThe Cal Poly women’s soccer team will look to rebound from its first Big West Conference loss at the conference tournament, beginning today at Long Beach State.
The Mustangs dropped their first Big West game Sunday against rival UC Santa Barbara on Senior Night, 2-1.
Despite the setback, the Mustangs finished conference play with an overall record of 9-6-3, including a 3-1-3 record in Big West play, good for fourth place and the No. 4 seed in the conference tourney.
While the Mustangs made the conference tournament, they face an uphill road. For their efforts, the Mustangs will play regular-season co-champion and No. 1 seed Long Beach State.
Joining the 49ers and Mustangs are No. 2-seeded UC Santa Barbara (7-6-6, 5-1-1 Big West) and No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton (9-7-2, 4-2-1 Big West).
Long Beach State received the No.1 seed because of a head-to-head tiebreaking victory over the Gauchos.
The 49ers enter the tournament with an overall record 14-4-1 (5-1-1 Big West) and boast the top two scorers in the Big West with the duo of Kim Silos (nine goals) and Hayley Bolt (eight goals). The 49ers also have the stingiest defense in the conference by allowing just .58 goals per game.
The Mustangs have their own pair of scoring threats in the form of sophomore forward Ashley Vallis and senior forward Kelsey Carroll. Vallis and Carroll have each tallied seven goals for the Mustangs.
The Mustangs are looking for their first conference tournament title since they repeated in 2003 and 2004.
Cal Poly isn’t exactly in foreign territory, regardless of its No. 4 seed.