When former Cal Poly soccer goalie Alyssa Giannetti met me on-campus on Friday afternoon, she had her skateboard under her arm and her last final behind her. After two years playing professional soccer in Finland, Giannetti came back to Cal Poly to finish her degree. 

In our conversation, she discussed choosing Cal Poly in part because it was a good surfing school, other reasons she chose Cal Poly, how she became a professional soccer player, and what’s ahead now that her soccer career is over. 

Cal Poly women’s soccer announced the signing of seven recruits on Thursday. Since they posted good-looking graphics, I’ll take them off the bottom of the football post and give them their own.

It looks like Alex Crozier has put together a nice recruiting class this year. It’s also nice to see local girls coming to school at Cal Poly. The Mustangs have players from both Righetti and San Luis Obispo High Schools.

I added videos where I could. Since I know nothing more than what’s below and on GoPoly.com, I’ll let the videos speak for themselves. Spring soccer is just around the corner and I’ve heard Cal Poly has some Pac 12 schools coming to town.

Kreutz comes from Buchanan High School. You know what other forward came to Cal Poly from Buchanan?

No pressure or anything… . (Welcome to SLO, Caitlyn)

A first minute goal was energizing for the Titans. By Owen Main

Cal Poly hosted the Big West Conference women’s soccer tournament last week. Unfortunately for local fans, the Mustangs lost in the semifinal match to Long Beach State on Thursday night.

On Sunday afternoon, the 49ers took on top-seeded Cal State Fullerton at Alex G. Spanos Stadium with the title on the line.

Fullerton started amazingly strong, scoring goals in the first and tenth minutes and making me wonder whether I had made the right decision to come out to watch the final.

Long Beach State didn’t give up. The third-seeded 49ers battled back with a 28th minute goal. Aside from the first ten minutes, I thought Long Beach State had the run of play for much of the game and better scoring opportunities, but just couldn’t convert. Just a few days after beating Cal Poly on penalty kicks, Long Beach State had a penalty stopped by Fullerton keeper Jennifer Stuart in the second half.

Fullerton fought-back a furious late series of attacks by Long Beach State in the final minutes to finish undefeated in the Big West this season.

Photos by Owen Main

To view on an iPhone or iPad, click here

Elise Krieghoff smashed the career goals record at Cal Poly in less than three full seasons. By Owen Main

Cal Poly women’s soccer beat rival UCSB 2-0 on Sunday afternoon. People could talk about the fact that Cal Poly clinched a bid into the Big West Tournament they’ll host in two weeks. They could also talk about the fact that, with the win, the Mustangs’ men’s and women’s teams went a collective 1-0-1 against rival UCSB this weekend. But neither of them will.

Because, Elise Krieghoff, you guys.

Krieghoff, a junior at Cal Poly, has put together a three-year assault on the Cal Poly and Big West Conference record books. On Sunday, she scored her 46th goal of her career — a new Cal Poly record. The Big West Conference record-holder is  Jennifer Borcich of UCSB, who scored 56 goals between 2001-04. Krieghoff, who scored five goals in a match against Fresno State earlier this season, could threaten that record by early next year.

Aside from a two-game losing streak at the beginning of conference play, the Cal Poly women’s soccer team might be having a better season than a year ago. They are playing with real confidence and purpose right now, and they host the conference tournament. It will be interesting to see if the students at Cal Poly come out and support the women in the tournament like they do the men during a UCSB game.

Thanks for waiting

I decided to ride my bicycle to today’s game, and it almost cost me a chance to see history. Getting across town took about 10 minutes longer than I anticipated, so when I saw the 1-0 score as I approached the stadium, my heart sank a little.

Lucky for me, Cal Poly’s first goal was by Megan Abutin with a Krieghoff assist. I quickly changed out of my cycling shoes, but before I could even tie my tennis shoes, the Mustangs broke on offense and Krieghoff netted the record-setting goal — after which I tied my shoes.

Krieghoff’s’ record-setting goal. By Owen Main

Senior day

Sunday was Senior Day for the four seniors on their roster. After the game, Krieghoff spoke highly of them all, but especially spoke highly of Sara Lancaster. Lancaster, a freshman when Krieghoff was being recruited, scored eight goals that season. As Krieghoff came to SLO, Lancaster was someone she looked-up to. After today, everyone is looking-up at Krieghoff in the Cal Poly record books.

Senior Tracy Hong, a key outside defender for the Mustangs, once again did not play. She is working to rehab an injury and hopes to be back in time for the conference tournament.

Cal Poly finishes their regular season at Cal State Fullerton next Saturday night before hosting the conference tournament starting the following Thursday. The game at Cal State Fullerton can be watched on ESPN3.

Photos by Owen Main

To view on iPhone or iPad, click here.

Elise Krieghoff continues to amaze. On Sunday, the junior tied Cal Poly’s all-time career goals record at 45.

I’ve seen Elise score in lots of different ways over the past three years. She’s made penalty kicks and fended off defenders and slotted balls past goalkeepers. Krieghoff has taken a goalie clearance off her back and put it into the goal. She’s put free kicks in the only possible place the keeper couldn’t get to them. She has pounded rebounds into the back of the net and skillfully touched crosses in with either her head or foot.

What I hadn’t seen until now was a goal from this far out, at a time in the game like this.

In the 82nd minute on Sunday, with the score tied, Krieghoff unleashed this cannon from, I’m thinking 30? yards out. See for yourself.

Go ahead, watch it again. I had to. Make sure you process it fully.

There are lots of things that could be said about that goal. It was surely a wonderful goal, but the most notable thing and the biggest complement to the player is how used to it Cal Poly fans have likely become. Ho-hum, another Krieghoff goal.

At least for today, not so much.

Elise Krieghoff earned her sixth career Big West Conference Player of the Week last week. By Owen Main

Cal Poly’s Elise Krieghoff has had a historic start to her career. With five games to go in her sophomore campaign, Krieghoff already holds the Mustangs’ single season goals record. Here are some other numbers that put into perspective the wonderful start that Cal Poly fans have been lucky enough to see.

18 Goals so far in 2013

Krieghoff has 18 goals in 16 games so far this season.  With two conference matches and postseason play still yet to happen, that number could go up still. Eighteen goals breaks the Cal Poly single season record and is third all-time in the Big West (the record is 25, held by Krystal Sandza of UCSB).

Five-time Conference Player of the Week in 2013

Krieghoff has earned Big West Player of the Week honors five times this season and six times in her career. The five in 2013 smashes the previous conference record of three and should almost guarantee her Big West Conference Player of the Year.

90 Shots so far in 2013

To get to 18 goals, Krieghoff has put the ball on-frame 90 times so far this season, tying her for third all-time in the single season shots category.

29 Career Goals

In less than two seasons, Krieghoff is within striking distance of breaking into the top-ten in all-time goals in the Big West Conference. Six more goals would get here there into the conference’s all-time top-10 and the record is 56, which she is on-pace to break if she keeps up something close to the pace of her first two seasons.

Krieghoff’s strength and ability to shed defenders is one reason why she has had the third-best goal scoring season ever in the Big West. By Owen Main

157 Career Shots

Much like her goal tally, Krieghoff’s shots tally should put her in the top-10 in the Big West all-time before the end of her junior season.

Part of what is fun about college sports is the opportunity for record-breaking performances. Krieghoff would probably tell you that the most important

I don’t want to toot my own horn… well, I guess I actually do because I’m adding this part. If you’re interested in Cal Poly soccer, you should go back and read my soccer preview.

Elise Krieghoff is off to a historic start. By Owen Main

After a six-game, three week road trip that saw the team go 0-6, the Cal Poly women’s soccer team came into Friday’s match against Long Beach State with some questions about how conference play would go. Elise Krieghoff answered nearly all those questions. In a span of 101 seconds, Krieghoff scored two second-half goals to lead the Mustangs to a 2-0 victory on Friday night.

With the win, Cal Poly moves their record to (5-6-0) overall and (1-0-0) in conference play.

Alyssa Giannetti made four saves in goal in the victory. Cal Poly and Long Beach both had four shots-on-goal. The difference was Krieghoff’s ability to jump on Long Beach’s defensive lapses and put the ball in the back of the net.

Much like women’s basketball, my suspicion is that a strong non-conference schedule is probably a really good thing for a Big West team, even if success in those games isn’t found. In other words,

Krieghoff, who was fourth in the nation with 1.1 goals per match coming into the Friday night contest, saw that number rise to 1.2. She has 13 goals in 11 games, tying her for second all-time in goals in a season. The program record for goals in a season is 15 goals by Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Famer Kolleen Kassis in 1992.

Kassis was the most outstanding offensive player in the 1993 NCAA Division 2 tournament, when the Mustangs lost in the National Championship. Kassis also holds the career goals and points leader in program history with 45 goals and 114 points. A little more than halfway into her sophomore season, Krieghoff has 24 goals and 49 points.

Friday’s women’s soccer match was the first of five games at Alex G. Spanos Stadium within about 48 hours this weekend. The home football game vs. Yale on Saturday is sandwiched between two soccer doubleheaders Friday and Sunday.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]