SEASIDE, Calif. - First-place Cal Poly Pomona allowed an early second-half goal and was unable to counter it in falling to Cal State Monterey Bay, 1-0, in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) women's soccer action on a rainy Sunday at the Otter Sports Complex Soccer Stadium.

With its very first conference defeat of 2023, CPP drops to 8-3-3 overall and 6-1-1 in the CCAA. The Broncos were an unbeaten 7-0-2 over their previous nine. CSUMB improves to 3-7-4 overall and 2-5-1 in league play. The Otters had lost four straight coming in, including their last three inside their home confines with just one goal scored.

CPP began the day four points ahead of Cal State San Marcos at the top of the conference table. The Cougars used an early goal to knock off visiting Cal Poly Humboldt Sunday, to narrow that gap to a single point.

Eighth-year head coach Jay Mason and his CPP squad will look to return to Sunday's venue for a CCAA Tournament semifinal on Friday, Nov. 10, as CSUMB serves as host of the semis and final for the first time.

Bronco senior Julia Lucero accounted for the contest's first two shots over the initial 10 minutes, both of them sailing high of the frame following cleared right-sided corner kicks. Giselle Samayoa's 17th-minute effort was likewise too tall. Freshman Mikaela Marr went high and wide right in the 33rd as CPP was the lone side able to try its luck.

The hosts finally picked up their first attempt with just under a minute left in the period, as Tiger Rendon was wide to the right with her left foot from the left diagonal inside the penalty box. Those five shots were the only bit of offense over the first 45 minutes.

Suddenly at the 50:50 mark coming out of the interval, on the first shot on target by either side of the afternoon, Cal State Monterey Bay took a shock 1-0 lead. A free kick from just inside the Otter offensive half on the right side, was delivered into the penalty area and found the foot of Amelia McManus. From a tight angle at about 12 yards away on the right side of the box, the junior forward took a right-footed shot that skimmed off the bottom of the crossbar and evaded the leap of Bella Hara in the Bronco net. It was McManus' team-leading sixth goal and ultimately first game-winner of 2023, and 18th tally of her career. Sixth-year senior Alexandra Diaz earned her third assist as her initial shot was blocked by a CPP defender.

In the 61st minute, sophomore center back Liberty Ortiz's left-sided direct kick was punched away with some difficulty by Aubrey McKessy. Melanie Harradine came close to an equalizer in the 65th minute. Samayoa put a left-footed cross in from her left side toward the far post, that Tara Oper headed back across the middle, but Harradine couldn't quite reach it to get her shot on target near the left post.

The game featured an odd finish. With about two minutes to go, CPP earned an indirect free kick from straight on at the edge of the six-yard box after McKessy committed an infringement by dropping the ball and picking it back up. All 11 Otters lined up across their goal line, which is allowed, and Ortiz's right-footed shot from a short pass (indirect kick) was not high enough and was thus blocked away by the expanded wall.

Ortiz had one last direct free kick from an extreme angle outside the left edge of the 18-yard box, again get parried away by McKessy with seconds left to play. The Broncos held a 10-3 advantage in shots and took nine corner kicks to just one, but CSUMB got the only goal.

Hara started her 14th consecutive match and was given one save. McKessy, a redshirt sophomore, was credited with three stops on the opposite side in notching her second shutout of the year.

The Broncos now head back to Pomona for one final weekend of home action for the 2023 regular season, first welcoming Cal State East Bay (7-4-3, 4-3-1 CCAA) into Kellogg Stadium on Friday night, Oct. 27. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m., following the men's contest at 4:30 p.m.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 57-45-21 (.549) overall and 36-25-17 (.571) in CCAA play under eighth-year (seventh season) head coach Jay Mason ... The Broncos are 5-2 on the road in 2023 ... Mason sent out the same starting 11 for the second straight match, with graduate student Bridget Carbonneau drawing a second call in a row ... Melanie Harradine earned her fourth collegiate start, all in succession ... Senior Julia Lucero drew a 10th straight start and 11th as a Bronco ... Bella Anderson, Bella Hara and Liberty Ortiz again played the full 90 minutes ... CPP has allowed three shots or fewer in each of the last four matches, five of the nine on frame with only two goals ... CPP has still dominated this series with a 16-2-1 record all-time against CSUMB since 2004, including three straight wins before Sunday ... The Broncos are 6-2-1 versus the Otters in Seaside, and 5-1-1 under Mason (1-1-1 on the road) ... The only other blemishes were another 1-0 loss on Oct. 11, 2009, and a 2-2 double-overtime draw on Oct. 19, 2018, both also in Seaside ... CPP maintained its No. 4 slot in Tuesday's latest United Soccer Coaches Division II West Region poll ... CPP and CSUMB were favored to place fourth and eighth, 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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