UC Santa Barbara men’s soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg had seen the defensive tactics deployed by Cal Poly in Sunday’s Big West encounter at Harder Stadium before.
He saw them used by Stanford, where second-year Cal Poly coach Oige Kennedy served as an associate head coach for seven years and was part of two national championships.
The Gauchos and 9,985 fans — the largest crowd in college men’s soccer this season — saw Kennedy’s defense-minded squad successfully frustrate the home side in a 0-0 draw on a foggy afternoon.
It was the sixth shutout for Cal Poly (4-3-4 overall, 1-0-1 Big West) and the fifth for UCSB (7-2-2, 1-0-1), which leads the Blue-Green rivalry series 53-21-13.
Cal Poly slowed the UCSB attack by putting 10 players behind the ball and fouling when a Gaucho got behind the defense. Some of the fouls seemed deserving of a yellow card, but players instead were lectured by the referee. There were only three yellow cards issued (two for Cal Poly), but Vom Steeg felt a few more bookings to both sides could have been handed out in the physical match.
“It’s what they do, and Stanford’s got three national championships. It can be very effective,” said Vom Steeg of the tactics Kennedy has brought to Cal Poly. “Tonight, it was frustrating because we’re trying to break lines, we’re trying to break through and, if you’re fouled on those plays and nothing happens, well, (the referee) just told both teams that if anyone breaks out you can just foul them. The game then just deteriorates into foul, foul, foul. I would say that game had 6-8 yellows.”
The Mustangs’ game plan made for very few scoring chances. UCSB was held to 10 shots (five on goal) for the match, with nine coming in the second half. Cal Poly was credited with six shots, including four on goal.
“We fought and battled when we needed to and relied on some big defensive performances from our group,” Kennedy told Cal Poly Sports Information. “Some good saves, some blocked shots, some fantastic one-versus-one defending – these are all things that we pride in our program and to see the boys relish these moments was fantastic.”
The Gauchos nearly broke the stalemate on a free kick in the 64th minute. From the right side, Peleg Brown whipped the ball into the box and centerback Calle Mollerberg slammed a header off the cross bar. In a scramble for the rebound, Zac Siebenlist poked the ball on goal but it was stopped by Cal Poly goalkeeper Nicky McCune. He finished with five saves.
McCune came up big in the 71st minute and denied UCSB’s leading goal scorer Alexis Ledoux from recording his 10th goal of the season. A follow shot by Filip Basili was cleared by Cal Poly defenders.
Ledoux set up Kaden Standish for a good opportunity in the 90th minute but Standish’s shot was blocked in front by a Cal Poly defender.
“We always try to play from the back, build through lines. I thought we did it pretty well, considering the running they put in place” said Ledoux of attacking Cal Poly’s organized defense. “We were just a little unlucky not to finish any goals today. We just have to stay after it.”
Cal Poly, which beat UCSB, 2-0, in a nonconference game in San Luis Obispo last week, created a great scoring chance on a corner kick in the 84th minute. Bakuena Ramakatsa found Joaquin Torres open at the near post but Gaucho goalkeeper David Mitzner reacted to the play and made the save on Torres’ blast.
Mitzner had three saves in notching his fifth shutout.
“I thought we did a really good job of limiting (Cal Poly) in transition. Their three best chances came off our turnovers,” said Vom Steeg.
He noted that a leg injury to freshman center midfielder Manu Duah early in the first half foiled his game plan. Duah had played every minute in every match this season.
“We made Manu the centerpiece of our attack. We wanted to get him the ball facing forward. We worked on finding Manu and the next thing you know we lose arguably the player who is going to make the whole thing go for us.”
UCSB celebrated the 20th anniversary of its 2004 soccer team reaching the NCAA College Cup final for the first time. That squad routed Duke 5-0 in the semifinals before falling to Indiana in the final on penalty kicks. The 2004 team still holds the program record for wins in a season (21), longest unbeaten streak to start the season (12 games), longest winning streak (10 games) and fewest goals allowed in a season (14).
The team members attending Sunday’s game were Dan Kennedy, Greg Curry, Pat Scott, Jon Apilado, Bryan Byrne, Drew McAthy, Chris Hughes, Corey Wood, Tony Lochhead, Brennan Tennelle, Chuck Anderson, Tino Nuñez and Ivan Becerra
UCSB hits the road for its two Big West matches. The Gauchos are at Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday and at UC Irvine on Saturday.
