POMONA, Calif. – For the first time in program history, the Cal Poly Pomona men's soccer team is headed to the third round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championships. On Saturday, the CPP squad topped California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) rivals, the Cal State L.A. Golden Eagles 1-0.
The victory advances the Green and Gold to the West Region title game against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Nov. 20. The contest will be held in Wichita Falls, Texas and will be hosted by Midwestern State who topped Colorado Mesa to earn the home bid.
"We are very excited that we were able to win an NCAA playoff game for the first time in program history," said head coach
Yossi Raz. "To win the game against Cal State L.A. which is a very competitive and prestigious program makes it even more rewarding. We look forward to continuing to do our best, and will take it one game at a time. We have a hard battle against another CCAA team with Dominguez in the Regional Final and we are looking forward to it.
Keeping the majority of the crowd at Kellogg Field happy, the CPP squad posted a goal in the 23rd minute of the match as
Mathew Perez was able to swipe the ball from a CSULA defender and put it past both the defender and the Golden Eagle goalkeeper into the right side of the net. The goal marked his third of the season and put his team up 1-0.
The remainder of the game stayed scoreless as both defenses held strong and were able to halt any other goals from happening. All-told, the CPP squad outshot the visitors to Kellogg Field 14-12. In the goal for the Broncos was
Fernando Pablo Quevedo who recorded four saves to keep the CSULA squad scoreless on his home field.
With the win, the Green and Gold improve their season tally to an overall mark of 14-2-3, the mark includes a 1-0 mark in NCAA playoffs and also marks the first time that the CPP program has made it past their first game of the NCAA postseason.
On the other half of the West Region Bracket, the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros and the host school Seattle Pacific went to a shootout after remaining at 1-1 for the entire 110 minutes of gameplay. CSUDH advances to play CPP after winning the contest 3-2 in PKs.
