By james art SAN LUIS OBISPO – Junior goalkeeper Nicky McCune (above) recorded a career-high seven saves — including three during an 86th-minute streak — and freshman forward Quinn Mahoney scored his team-leading fourth goal of the year Wednesday night, but the Cal Poly men’s soccer program was tied 1-1 with UC Irvine at Mustang Memorial Field.
Entering Wednesday’s game tied for first place atop the Big West standings, Cal Poly (6-4-6, 3-1-3) improved to 12 points but slipped to second behind UC Santa Barbara ( 10-3-3, 4) -1-2) topped last-place CSUN, 4-3, as the Gauchos took sole possession of first place with 14 points.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Cal Poly leads Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton by one point, UC Irvine and UC Riverside by two points and seventh-place UC San Diego by three.
Cal Poly closes out the regular season by visiting CSUN on Saturday, October 26 at 7:00 p.m. and hosting Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, November 2 at 8:00 p.m. Both games are televised on ESPN+.
“UC Irvine is a well-experienced team that has players with a lot of postseason experience – including last year’s NCAA tournament. They’re used to playing tight games and they’re extremely well coached, so we knew it was going to be a very tough game,” Cal Poly sophomore coach Oige Kennedy said. “We can certainly be proud of how we competed and how many offensive chances we created.’
Cal Poly found the back of the net for UC Irvine after just four minutes on a goal from a graduate defenseman Jack Muoio reaching the UC Irvine penalty area and finding Mahoney, who fired past Anteaters goalie Luke Pruter.
The Mustangs had 18 shot attempts Wednesday but tested Pruter just two more times with the junior Oren Stepel stopped at 31 minutes and colleague ahead Ashton Alonge turned in the 50s.
On the opposite end, McCune preserved Cal Poly’s early lead with two saves in the first half. However, the Anteaters broke through in the 55th with forward Misael Gutierrez scoring his third goal of the year.
However, McCune — who allowed just his second goal in seven Big West games — made his fourth save just a minute later before shutting out UC Irvine three times in the 86th to help Cal Poly to a tie .
“We started both halves well and put ourselves in great position in the game, but we just needed to be a little more ruthless on the offensive side of the ball,” Kennedy said. “Defensively we needed some big saves from Nicky, some blocked shots and defenders willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. The boys showed a lot of bravery in those big moments.”