Cal Poly wins Big West men’s soccer title in dramatic fashion
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Needing victory to secure the first Big West regular season title in program history, the Cal Poly men's soccer program received an 87th-minute, game-winning goal from forward Conner Lisenbee to edge Cal State Bakersfield in Saturday's regular season finale, 1-0.
Junior goalkeeper Nicky McCune added a pair of saves to record his eighth shutout of 2024 for Cal Poly (4-1-4, 7-4-7), which finished the regular season on 16 points to edge rival UC Santa Barbara (10-4-4, 4-2-3) by one for the regular season title after the Gauchos fell at UC Riverside earlier Saturday, 2-0.
"I'm so proud of our student-athletes for their commitment and drive to work as hard as they do. All of them have contributed so much to the program and their effort has been an inspiration for each other, which is truly something unique," said second-year Cal Poly head coach Oige Kennedy, whose Mustangs enter the postseason having lost just once in the last 14 outings. "Tonight is a big positive for the work done by our student-athletes and staff."
Since joining the Big West ahead of the 2001 season, Cal Poly had finished second in the regular season standings in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015.
With Saturday's victory, Cal Poly will host a Big West Championship semifinal matchup on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. against either fourth-seeded UC Davis or fifth-seeded Cal State Bakersfield. UC Davis hosts Cal State Bakersfield in Wednesday's opening round. UC Santa Barbara is seeded second and hosts either third-seeded UC Irvine or sixth-seeded Cal State Fullerton in the other semifinal.
As the top seed for the Big West Championship, Cal Poly – with a semifinal victory or advancement on penalties – would also host the Friday, Nov. 15 title matchup against the remaining semifinalist.
"It's a huge reward to be making the postseason for the second season running," Kennedy said. "We cannot wait to play again at home with more opportunities up for grabs."
Cal Poly, which would have been relegated to the fourth seed with a draw Saturday, had placed just two attempts on target through 86 minutes when freshman midfielder Quinn Mahoney found Lisenbee inside the Roadrunners penalty area. In his 45th career match, Lisenbee – who scored Cal Poly's first goal of 2024 on Sept. 1 – fired past Cal State Bakersfield goalkeeper Zenden Hart for the title-clinching strike.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).
