SAN FRANCISCO - The first-place Cal Poly Pomona women's soccer team produced exquisite late goals in each half to get past host San Francisco State University, 2-1, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest at Cox Stadium on Friday afternoon.

With a second straight road win, CPP improved to 8-2-3 overall and a still-undefeated 6-0-1 in the CCAA. The Broncos are an unbeaten 7-0-2 over their last nine. They began the day two points clear of Cal State San Marcos atop the standings, and with the Cougars' 1-1 home draw with Sonoma State, have expanded their lead to four points, pending the remainder of Friday's slate. A second consecutive loss drops San Francisco State to 3-9-2 overall and 2-4-1 in league play.

The visitors had the game's first scoring opportunity just over a minute in, as their initial corner kick found the head of Auburn Burnett, whose attempt went high of the frame. Tara Oper generated the first shot on target in the seventh minute, but it went right at Gator goalie Kylie Tone.

Sophomore Giselle Samayoa had a right-footer from distance also miss just high of the mark in the 15th minute. SF State was not credited with its first shot until the 23rd, when Alexa Avelar's effort from around the penalty spot was blocked down by a defender.

Moments later at the 26:00 mark, Burnett had her left-footer smack off the crossbar and into Tone's arms after a nice run toward the left end line by Jaclyn Cuevas and a clever dummy by Oper on the crossing pass.

After a second Oper shot was caught by Tone in the 37th, less than a minute later, the Broncos had the game's opening goal. They played around the back from Bella Anderson, to Bella Hara in goal, to Liberty Ortiz, and then to Mikaela Marr on the left sideline. The true freshman defender sent an incredible 20-plus-yard right-footed pass over the top of the entire Gator defense, for Alexis Macias to run onto and put a deft shot on with the outside of her right foot that chipped the charging Tone and bounced across the goal line for the junior reserve forward's first major college points and first goal in the green and gold at 37:09. Marr picked up her first collegiate point through the assist.

Shortly after the opening whistle to the second half, Marisa Salazar's left-footed shot from inside the penalty area after a short pass by Phoëbe Amaro, went narrowly wide of the right post. A right-footed shot by Oper in the 63rd minute looked like it might be headed for the right corner of the netting, but was cleared away by a Gator defender.

Completely against the run of play, SF State grabbed a 68th-minute equalizer, as Alyna Flores' right-sided corner kick was headed perfectly from six yards out into the right side by Brynn Reyes for the latter's first goal of 2023. The assist was also Flores' first on the year. The score snapped CPP's shutout streak at 251:14.

In CPP's search for another go-ahead strike, Bailey McNitt came close twice within mere seconds as the contest went into its final 10 minutes. First, what appeared to be a left-footed cross from the left side, actually landed right on top of the net. Her right-footer from distance was then caught with difficulty by Tone.

At the 80:46 mark, the Broncos indeed found their winner. A back pass was played ahead first-time by Hara. Burnett gathered, spun and provided an outstanding through pass down the right flank for Oper to latch onto. The junior forward rounded Tone on the right edge of the 18-yard box, and from a tight angle while falling down, made no mistake with her right-footed finish. It was Oper's fifth goal of the season and of her college career, and third of the game-winning variety. The assist was Burnett's third this year.

Hara, a fourth-year junior starting her 13th match in the CPP net, finished with zero saves as the Broncos outshot the Gators, 12-2. Tone, a true sophomore, had four stops in her sixth start in the SF State net.

The Broncos remain in Northern California to wrap up this season-long three-match road stretch, heading south to Seaside to take on Cal State Monterey Bay (2-7-4, 1-5-1 CCAA) on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 22. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. at the Otter Sports Complex Soccer Stadium, with the men following at 2 p.m.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 57-44-21 (.553) overall and 36-24-17 (.578) in CCAA play under eighth-year (seventh season) head coach Jay Mason ... The Broncos are 5-1 on the road in 2023 ... Mason made one change from the lineup he started for the last two matches, with graduate student Bridget Carbonneau back in for the first time since Sept. 23, in place of true freshman Mikaela Marr, who had begun each of the previous seven contests ... True junior Melanie Harradine earned her third collegiate start, all in a row ... Senior Julia Lucero drew a ninth straight start and 10th as a Bronco ... Bella Anderson, Bella Hara and Liberty Ortiz played the full 90 minutes ... Alexis Macias had tallied no fewer than 39 goals in her two years at Rio Hondo College in Whittier ... CPP is 15-13-6 against San Francisco State all-time, but had dropped back-to-back meetings entering Friday ... The Broncos are 5-8-3 versus the Gators in San Francisco, and 2-2-3 under Mason (1-1-1 on the road) ... They were 0-2-1 in San Francisco over the previous three matchups there since a 1-0 overtime triumph on Oct. 17, 2014 ... CPP maintained its No. 4 slot in Tuesday's latest United Soccer Coaches Division II West Region poll ... CPP and SF State were favored to place fourth and 10th, respectively, in the CCAA preseason poll.

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Home matches and CCAA away contests stream live online via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans can also download the CCAA Network app on an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, and through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV. Subscribers have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand, for the low monthly price of $9.95. Over half of each monthly subscription purchase goes directly back to the CCAA athletics department of your choice to support the student-athlete experience. Sign-ups are available right now at each university's network portal. Just go to CCAAnetwork.com, select your favorite team at the top and click the 'Subscribe' button.

Tickets are on sale now for all CPP home matches. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online prior to coming to campus at broncoathletics.com/tickets, or by downloading the HomeTown Fan app on your smartphone or tablet. Again this year, only debit and credit cards will be accepted at the box office for admission. Limited concession items will be on sale on-site as well, with the concession stand also only accepting debit and credit cards.

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