GOLDEN, Colo. – The Cal Poly Pomona women's soccer team can walk away from the season with its heads held high. Despite falling 2-0 to Cal State Stanislaus on Friday, the Broncos can look back on the season and be proud of what they have accomplished.
 
"I'm extremely proud of the team," said head coach Mike Dibbini. "They have had an amazing year. There is no reason for them to hang their heads, it may sting for a bit, but they had a great run, and they accomplished so much."
 
In Friday's game, the Warriors were first on the board, as a shot on Ricki Ives saw the goalkeeper make a beautiful save. Unfortunately, the ball bounced off of Ives and to the feet of Kristen Coleman of CSUS and a well kicked ball found the back of the CPP net.
 
Heading into halftime, the Stanislaus offense seemed to be a bit more active than the Broncos. Only one shot of the CPP squad had gone towards the goal, while five of the Warrior balls had been at Ives. The freshman from Chino collected four saves in the first half.  
 
After the break, Coleman would prove to be a dependable player for her Warriors as just 4:17 into the second half, after a long run, she worked her way through some holes in the CPP line and put away her second goal of the night. The 2-0 score proved to be too much for the Broncos to come back from and the CSUS squad carried it to the final second.
 
"Unfortunately the ball didn't go our way," said Dibbini. "Stanislaus was able to find some separation in the game and took advantage of the opportunities. Stanny did a solid job with their organization and we tried to counter as best we could to get the equalizer, unfortunately that didn't happen."
 
The trip to Golden, Colo., was the first time that the women's soccer program has made it to the third round of the NCAA playoffs in 15 years. The last time was in 1999, with the most successful team in program history. The 2014 team will go down in the books as the second most successful team in CPP history, with an overall tally of 15-6-1, a mere two wins behind the '99 squad.
 
This season has also seen the Broncos match the program record for number of shutouts with 13, as their 1-0 win over Cal State L.A. last week solidified that. Continuing with the shutout theme here, the Broncos also set the record for consecutive shutouts with six, which was ended after a fantastic performance that resulted with a 2-2 tie against the No. 5 Golden Eagles.
 
The game was the final game for CPP that five seniors would play. Allie Maxwell, Arika Ontiveros, Indra Arteaga, Hannah Leu, and Alison Sauve can go forth and know that they had a wonderful final season.
 
Sauve led the Broncos this season with seven goals. While that is an offensive feat, she also earned the CCAA Defensive Player of the Year award and a spot on the CCAA Championships All-Tournament Team.
 
Newcomers to the Broncos, Melissa Martinez and Daisy Duran, finish with the second- and third-most goals on the team, respectively. Martinez registered six on the season, while Duran tallied five.
 
In goal for the Broncos all season, Ives collected 67 saves, good for a 0.798 save percentage. Her season high came in last week's game against the Golden Eagles where she collected nine save en route to the CPP victory which sent them to Colorado.
 
All of the student-athletes were essential to the team's success this season, the good times were for all to enjoy and the Broncos will come back to Cal Poly Pomona as the most successful team in the last 14 years.
 
With the win, Cal State Stanislaus will play the host, Colorado School of Mines, on Sunday at 12 p.m. PST (1 p.m. MST).