Oct. 7, 2006

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Cal Poly defeated UC Davis, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in men's soccer action at Aggie Soccer Stadium. The difference in the match proved to be a pair of goals scored by the Mustangs in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Mariano Arrua and Darren Hammond each had a goal and assist for the Aggies. The loss was the first for UC Davis (6-5-2) in its past seven matches and ended its unbeaten streak against Big West Conference teams. Cal Poly improved to 5-5-3 and avenged an earlier 1-0 loss to the Aggies in September.

The Aggies put plenty of pressure on the Cal Poly defense in the first half, taking nine shots compared to the Mustangs' two. The effort finally paid of in their seventh shot, when Arrua scored in the 33rd minute. Campbell fed a cross from the right corner to Arrua, who headed it in the right side of the goal to put the Aggies up 1-0.

The Aggies took the one-goal lead into the break before the Mustangs put together a pair of goals in the opening minutes of the second half. Just over three minutes into the period, Dominic Papa scored an unassisted goal to tie the match.

In the 55th minute, it was Andrew Cruz who put the Mustangs up for good when he blasted in a shot from the left side on an assist from Julian Alvarez to give Cal Poly a 2-1 lead.

The score would remain that way until the 75th minute when Jeff Meyer, Jr., was fed a pass from Todd Combs and scored from just in front of the goal. That gave the Mustangs a 3-1 lead.

The Aggies put pressure on the Mustangs late after Hammond scored from a free kick by Arrua to make it 3-2 in the 78th minute.

UC Davis ended up outshooting Cal Poly 13-7. The Mustangs' Eric Branagan-Franco finished with three saves while Charles Warne and Brian Wickers each had one for the Aggies.

"I don't think it was anything that we did wrong. I just think they capitalized on a couple of a good opportunities," said UC Davis head coach Dwayne Shaffer.

"It was nice to see the guys come back with a lot of fight and score a second goal to make it interesting and make it competitive," added Shaffer. "I thought maybe we'd get the third, but unfortunately we didn't."

UC Davis next plays Oct. 14 when it faces Cal State Fullerton on the road.