The UCI Women’s Soccer team (6-5-6, 2-2-5) fell to Cal Poly (8-6-3, 5-1-3), 0-2, in a conference matchup at Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, Oct. 23.
Ranked seventh in the Big West, the ‘Eaters were eager to win the conference matchup to stay alive in the Big West tournament.
After a Cal Poly kickoff to start the match, the Mustangs had an early scoring opportunity off a corner kick. With the backline pushed up for the corner kick, Cal Poly’s senior midfielder Monserrat Hernandez Marquez dropped a low-driven ball to senior defender Kylie Rojas. The defender had a one-touch shot toward the goal, which was deflected by UC Irvine’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Glo Hinojosa.
Although UCI showed physicality during the first half, the ‘Eaters struggled to create opportunities in their attacking side of the field. Head coach Scott Juniper switched the formation to a 4-5-1 instead of the usual 4-3-3 to adjust to Cal Poly’s strong midfield for the first half. However, this change put the Anteaters in more trouble.
With only one forward for UC Irvine, the ‘Eaters had difficulty counterattacking and had no offensive advantage. The Anteaters had a close opportunity for a goal during the 15th minute of the game. Redshirt freshman midfielder Aislynn Crowder chipped a long ball into the box to redshirt junior midfielder/forward Destinee Manzo, but Cal Poly’s sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Samuel snagged the ball away.
About 22 minutes into the game, Rojas dribbled through the center and placed a well-paced through pass to Cal Poly senior defender/forward Madison Demijohn. Although Demijohn lost control of the ball while doing a half turn toward the goal, it was controlled by senior midfielder Camille Lafaix. The midfielder poked the ball through the left side of the net past Hinojosa to put the Mustangs up 1-0. By the end of the first half, the ‘Eaters had zero shots while the Mustangs had nine.
Learning from their first-half mistakes, coach Juniper made some changes to the lineup for the second half of the match and put three forwards at the top for UC Irvine. This adjustment showed some progress for the ‘Eaters right away. Two minutes into the second half, the Anteater squad had their first shot of the match with a free kick by sophomore forward Desiree Mendoza.
A foul by UC Irvine’s senior defender Maddy Chavez on Cal Poly’s freshman forward Caylie Button in the 82nd minute awarded a penalty kick (PK) to the Mustangs. Senior midfielder Megan Hansen took the PK for Cal Poly and placed the ball into the net with a low shot towards the left side of the goal, extending the Mustangs’ lead to 2-0. Hansen’s PK record improved to 3 for 3.
Cal Poly focused on possessing the ball as the clock on the scoreboard kept ticking. Although the ‘Eaters kept pressuring the ball as time became limited, UC Irvine couldn’t create opportunities to score in the final minutes of the match. Cal Poly defeated UC Irvine 2-0 to close out their final game on Spanos Stadium’s turf for the regular season.
The Anteaters will be back at the Anteater Stadium in Irvine, CA on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. against Hawai’i in their final regular season home game. The match can be watched here.
Hanah Kitamoto is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at ykitamot@uci.edu.