Nick Carroll‘s 81st minute goal lifted Cal Poly men’s soccer to their first win of the year in their home opener Sunday afternoon at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. 

Junior Jose Rivera, a transfer from Irvine Valley College, took a ball deep into the box and calmly left it off in perfect position for Carroll. The left back measured the pass and blasted it through the Saint Mary’s keepers hands into the net as the WOW week crowd of 5,000 – plus exploded. 

Nick Carroll lifts @CPMensSoccer over Saint Mary's with his first career goal! Mustangs beat the Gaels, 1-0. #KSBYsports pic.twitter.com/E9YP9fI1Vt

— Chance Dickman (@ChanceDickmanTV) September 11, 2017

Props to new KSBY weekend sports anchor, Chance Dickman for getting GREAT video of the shot, goal, and aftermath. 

After playing their first four games on the road, three against nationally ranked teams, the Mustangs finally picked-up a result. Saint Mary’s was no slouch either. The Gaels played Big West North Division favorite UCSB to a scoreless draw and beat South Division favorite CSUN 2-1. 

Cal Poly is now (1-4-0) on the season and next plays this Saturday night at San Diego State, before returning to SLO County to play CSU Bakersfield at the Paso Robles Horse Park on Saturday morning, September 23rd. That day should be fun with a soccer game in North County in the morning and a football game in the afternoon. 

Photos by Owen Main. For a gallery of all photos, click here. 

Red cards can be the kiss of death in soccer.

Against St. Mary’s on Friday night, Cal Poly defender Robin Mertens was shown a red card in the 33rd minute. Down a player, Cal Poly regrouped and played close with the Gaels until a foul in the box led to St. Mary’s first goal. Samantha Dion fired the ball past a diving Alyssa Giannetti and St. Mary’s was up 1-0.

Cal Poly junior striker Elise Krieghoff drew a foul just outside the box and scored on a shorthanded free-kick. The strike was a thing of beauty — something Cal Poly fans have come to expect from Krieghoff — who is quickly approaching the Cal Poly all-time scoring title.

Here’s the goal:

To tie the game with a kick like that in a shorthanded situation is pretty clutch.

While an argument could me made that Cal Poly had as many good chances as Saint Mary’s during the game, eventually, those red cards do catch up to a team. The Mustangs made it to overtime tied at one apiece before Dion put a golden goal past Giannetti in the 93rd minute.

The Mustangs finish their non-conference schedule at home against San Francisco on Sunday. Big West play begins on Friday at Long Beach State.

Photos by Owen Main

To view photos on an iPad or iPhone, click here