POMONA - Graduate student Bailey McNitt's unassisted goal with just 2:16 remaining lifted the Cal Poly Pomona women's soccer team over Cal State East Bay, 2-1, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest inside Kellogg Stadium on Friday night.

With the win, CPP not only improves to 9-3-3 overall and 7-1-1 in the CCAA, but also assures itself a second consecutive trip to the CCAA Tournament. CSUEB falls to 7-5-3 overall and 4-4-1 in league play. The Pioneers had come in as winners of a season-high-tying three straight, all at home, but are now a winless 0-5-1 outside of Hayward.

Heading into Friday, CPP had just the slightest one-point edge atop the conference standings ahead of Cal State San Marcos, with Cal State East Bay in a three-way tie for fifth. Combined with the Cougars' 2-2 draw at Cal State San Bernardino earlier Friday afternoon, the Broncos regained a three-point cushion in their trophy bid going into the final two games.

With time winding down, sophomore midfielder Marisa Salazar played a ball out wide to the right to junior forward Tara Oper. Oper took several touches toward the right edge of the 18-yard box and uncorked a right-footed shot that exploded at the left post. McNitt, who spent the past four years at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D., was in the right place at the right time to put a left-footed rebound low into the back of the net. It was her fifth of the year and second game-winner.

Oper had earlier opened the scoring at the 21:55 mark, with Auburn Burnett providing that setup. Her sixth goal of 2023 snapped East Bay's shutout streak at 219:47. Burnett's assist was her fifth to tie her for the team lead with junior Melanie Harradine.

Third-year sophomore midfielder Mika Sayfurahman, named Tuesday as the first-time CCAA Offensive Player of the Week, leveled matters in the 40th minute with an unassisted strike for her team-best sixth.

Fourth-year junior transfer Bella Hara wound up with zero saves in a 15th consecutive start between the CPP posts. Making her 11th start of 2023, fifth-year senior Jordan Smith collected three stops for the Pioneers. The Broncos outshot the visitors, 7-3, and have now allowed three shots or fewer in each of their last five matches, with seven of the 12 on frame and only three goals against.

Cal Poly Pomona stays put for its 2023 regular-season home finale against aforementioned conference contender Cal State San Marcos (8-2-5, 5-0-4 CCAA) this Sunday, Oct 29. Kickoff at Kellogg Stadium is slated for 2 p.m., after the men's game at 11:30 a.m.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 58-45-21 (.552) overall and 37-25-17 (.576) in CCAA play under eighth-year (seventh season) head coach Jay Mason ... The Broncos are 4-1-3 at home in 2023 ... Graduate student Bridget Carbonneau drew her third start in a row ... Melanie Harradine came off the bench after starting the previous four matches, as did senior Julia Lucero after 10 consecutive starts ... Bella Anderson, Auburn Burnett, Bella Hara and Liberty Ortiz played the full 90 minutes ... CPP leads this all-time series, 17-6-4, with an unbeaten 5-0-1 mark over the last six meetings since a 2-1 home loss on Oct. 9, 2016 ... The Broncos are 8-4-2 versus the Pioneers in Pomona, and 5-1-1 under Mason (3-1-1 at home) ... CSUEB's first-half equalizer Friday ended its scoreless run against CPP at 424:41 since early in a 2-1 come-from-behind, double-overtime road triumph on Oct. 21, 2018 ... CPP and CSUEB were favored to place fourth and 11th, respectively, in the CCAA preseason poll.

---

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.

Follow the Broncos all season long by going to broncoathletics.com/followus and sign up to receive breaking news and final score updates throughout the year.