Story courtesy of Cal Poly Sports Information
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. ? Cal Poly remained undefeated at home with a 1-0 win over CSUB on Sunday before 1,514 fans in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
In the 66th minute, Daniel Cumming ran along the edge of the box and took a pass, tapped it behind him and found a streaking Julian Alvarez who touched it once and drilled a shot past CSUB goalkeeper Steve Trojanowski, who had charged five-yards off his line.
With the win, Cal Poly improves to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the friendly confines of Alex G. Spanos Stadium. CSUB falls to 2-4-3.
Cal Poly played one of its strongest defensive games of the year, limiting the Roadrunners to three shots and only one on goal while Eric Branagan-Franco recorded his fourth shut out of the season.
Offensively, the Mustangs littered the Roadrunner goal with shots, but could only make good on one attempt. The Mustangs took 15 shots in the game and put 11 on goal. Trojanowski had 10 saves for CSUB.
The Mustangs put pressure on the Roadrunners early. It took just 20 seconds for Cumming to put Cal Poly's first shot on goal. Then, in the 5th minute, David Zamora intercepted an errant Roadrunner pass, turned and fired a ball toward the left side of the goal. The shot was blocked out of bounds Trojanowski, but the Mustangs put another shot on goal just moments later on a give-and-go corner kick from Jose Garcia to Julian Alvarez and back to Garcia.
In the 23rd minute, Alvarez took a long pass from Garcia and broke free to the edge of the box. Alvarez fired a shot, but the ball was blocked by Trojanowski and cleared out of bounds by a teammate for a corner kick. Montgomery's corner fell helplessly into Trojanowski's arms, but the Roadrunner keeper lost control of the ball as he ran toward the front of the box then picked up the ball after it had bounced just out of the box.
The ensuing play was a golden scoring opportunity for the Mustangs as David Zamora took an indirect free-kick at the top of the box. The shot, however, was corralled by Trojanowski.
The Roadrunners saw a scoring opportunity in the 38th minute as Javier Barba took a free kick from 30-yards out. Cal Poly's K.J. Lenehan came in for a hard tackle and received a yellow card, but Barba's free kick was deflected by Cal Poly's wall.
In the 42nd minute, Daniel Gray crossed a ball from the left side of the field and found Ryan Anderson's head on the far side of the box. Anderson headed the ball toward the middle of the box, a ball that was then headed by Mario Fernandez, a foot-wide of the right post from five-yards out.
The Mustangs would see a bevy of scoring opportunities in the final three minutes of the first half, but couldn't put away a goal. Fouls played a key role in the half as the Mustangs were whistled for 14 penalties to the Roadrunners' four.
Cal Poly came out aggressively in the second half as well as Josh Didion made a run into the right side of the box and launched a shot over the goal from 15-yards out in the opening minutes.
In the 48th minute, Mario Fernandez had a chance from 3-yards out, but Trojanowski turned him away and the ball deflected out-of-bounds for a corner.
The Roadrunners had one of their best scoring chances in the 61st minute as they received a free kick some 10-yards away from the top of the box. It was taken quickly, directed on the ground to the left where Towa Manda trapped it and shot high over the frame.
Cumming's tap to Alvarez gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the 66th minute.
The Roadrunners put together a last stand in the 89th minute, taking a throw in into Cal Poly's box, only to have potential shot blocked by a Mustang defender 10-yards away from the goal.
In what was a very physical game, the Mustangs were whistled for 20 fouls to CSUB's 12. Five yellow cards were issued in all, three to Cal Poly and two to CSUB.
