UC Riverside
Cal Poly
Cal Poly Fends Off Late UCR Rally For 3-2 Win
10/29/2008 8:29:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Cal Poly Mustangs scored three unanswered goals midway through the first half, but had to hang on for the 3-2 win playing down a man for the final 19 minutes against the UC Riverside Highlanders in a Big West Conference match-up Wednesday evening.
UCR was the aggressor out of the gate forcing the play for the first 25 minutes of the game and posting the first goal of the match when Cesar Diaz (Chino, CA) connected off a keeper deflection for his third goal of the season.
The Mustangs brought in three subs at the 23:06 mark – Ryan Anderson, David Zamora and Kyle Montgomery – who completely changed the complexion of the game. Montgomery in particular proved destructive to the Highlanders cause as he assisted on three straight Mustangs' goals within a span of seven minutes turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead. The second goal came off a Zamora bicycle kick for his seventh goal of the season.
That score held up as the teams went to the locker room, and it wasn't until the clock read 19:49 remaining in the second that the Highlanders got their next big scoring chance. A handball in the Mustangs box gave UC Riverside a penalty kick that Joel Crompton (Pleasanton, CA) converted to bring the Highlanders within one.
Less than a minute later, Cal Poly's Julian Alvarez picked up a red card giving UC Riverside a man advantage the rest of the way. Unfortunately, they weren't able to convert, and their record fell to 4-12-1, 1-6-0. Cal Poly improved to 9-4-4, 4-2-2 with the win.
The Highlanders have three matches remaining on the 2008 docket – home matches on November 1 vs. Cal State Northridge and November 8 vs. Cal State Fullerton, both at 3 pm, and a November 5 road tilt at UC Irvine.
