WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Cal Poly Pomona men's soccer team scored early, and scored often, as the Broncos cruised to a 5-0 blowout victory over Biola in the First Round of the 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship Tournament on Friday at Stang Park in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Eduardo Faria and
Oscar Griehsel Facey both registered a brace while
Paul Henschke tallied his team-leading 13th goal of the season as the No. 7 seed Broncos (13-4-3) advance to the Second Round on Sunday against No. 2 seed and host Midwestern State. The No. 10 seed Eagles saw their season come to an end at 11-7-0.
CLICK HERE to watch the postgame interviews with head coach
Matt O'Sullivan, senior
Eduardo Faria and sophomore
Paul Henschke.
The five goals scored by the Broncos were the most scored by CPP in a single NCAA Tournament match. In the previous 20 NCAA Tournament matches the Broncos have played in, the most they had scored in a single-match was three – a 3-2 overtime win over Colorado School of Mines on Nov. 22, 2015 and a 3-0 victory over Fresno Pacific on Nov. 8, 2018.
Faria got the onslaught started in the 20th minute after
Garrett Jensen dribbled down the right side of the penalty box, shook a defender, and found Faria crashing the goal box. Faria took the pass, juked another defender, and sent a shot into the left side of the net for the 1-0 Broncos lead.
Only 48 seconds later,
Jasper Winslow passed up to Faria, who got in behind the Biola defense, and with just the goalkeeper to beat, was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick. Faria stepped up and buried his attempt into the right side of the goal when Eagles goalkeeper JD Gunn dove to the left.
At the intermission, the Broncos held a 9-4 advantage in shots.
Less than three minutes into the second half, Griehsel Facey took advantage of a defensive miscue by BIola deep in their own box and returned fire into the upper left corner of the net as the Broncos began to pull away.
When it rains, it pours, because just two minutes later,
Jordan Aldama launched a 65-yard goal kick where Henschke chased it down in behind the Eagle defense and connected on a left-footed shot in front of the keeper and into the right side of the nylon for the fourth goal of the afternoon.
Griehsel Facey put a cherry on top for CPP in the 76th minute on another failed attempt by Biola to clear the ball out of the box, putting the Broncos up 5-0 for good.
In the end, the Broncos outshot the Eagles 22-8. The 5-0 triumph by CPP avenged a 1-0 loss to Biola back in September. Aldama recorded his eighth clean sheet of the season, he only needed to make one save which came in the 70th minute.
Biola sees its season come to an end at 11-7-0.
Cal Poly Pomona, ranked 16th in the nation and the No. 7 seed in Super Region 4, advances to the Second Round to take on host Midwestern State, the 8th-ranked team in the nation and No. 2 seed in Super Region 4, on Sunday at 11:00 am Pacific Time (1:00 pm Central). CPP has only faced Midwestern State one other time in history, and it resulted in a 2-2 tie, but saw the Broncos advance on penalty kicks in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Wichita Falls, Texas on Nov. 18, 2017. MSU was the top-ranked team in the nation at the time.
BRONCO BITS: Head coach
Matt O'Sullivan is now 25-9-6 (.700) in three seasons at Cal Poly Pomona … Cal Poly Pomona improves to 13-6-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is now 4-1-0 in First Round contests … The Broncos remain unbeaten (4-0-1) in NCAA Tournament matches all-time at Stang Park in Wichita Falls, Texas.
