SAN LUIS OBISPO – Three regular season matches remain for the Cal Poly men’s soccer program, which attempts to not only cement its place in the four-team Big West Conference Tournament, but also secure both home pitch advantage for the event and the field’s top overall seed. Co-Big West leaders with No. 4 UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly (7-8-1, 5-2-0) hosts UC Riverside (1-12-1, 0-5-1) inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. before traveling to UC Davis (7-6-2, 2-3-1) for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday. UC Riverside and UC Irvine, the bottom two programs in the Big West table, have taken just one of 15 points during the previous five Big West matches. Ryan Foran provides play-by-play coverage of Cal Poly’s contest versus UC Riverside HERE, beginning with the pre-match show at 6:55 p.m. GameTracker for Cal Poly’s contest at UC Irvine is available HERE.

A QUICK LOOK AHEAD: Both Cal Poly and No. 4 UC Santa Barbara sit atop the Big West table with 15 points. Should the Mustangs win both of their matches this week and the Gauchos prevail against Cal State Northridge (Oct. 28) and at No. 19 UC Irvine (Oct. 31), the Nov. 4 meeting between the two central coast programs at Spanos Stadium will be worth more than just local bragging rights. Match time is scheduled for 7 p.m. Because Cal Poly has only three matches remaining and UC Santa Barbara has four, the Mustangs will, most likely, have to defeat the Gauchos to claim the top seed for the conference tournament.

BIG WEST EXCELLENCE: As the Big West regular season draws to a close, Cal Poly will attempt to match or better a handful of program conference records. Despite not being selected for the NCAA Tournament, the 2007 Mustang squad currently owns program records for Big West victories (six), fewest losses (two) and total points (22). Both the 2007 and 2008 sides won a program-record 11 overall matches.

HIGHLANDERS HEELED: Despite yielding four goals during their previous five matches against UC Riverside, the Mustangs are undefeated against the Highlanders dating to the 2007 campaign. During the first meeting this season between Cal Poly and UC Riverside on Oct. 17, Junior forward Ryan Anderson’s 18th-minute goal stood as the game-winning strike.

MAD HATTERS: Cal Poly went nearly five seasons without a Mustang producing a three-goal match but the program has now witnessed the feat twice during the previous four contests. On Oct. 14, junior midfielder Junior Burgos burned Cal State Fullerton for three goals inside the opening 26 minutes of a 3-2 Mustang victory. Ten days later against Cal State Northridge, junior forward David Zamora scored thrice during a seven-minute span in the second half to help Cal Poly to a 3-1 win. The sixth and seventh hat tricks, respectively, in Cal Poly history not only equaled the Mustang program record for single-match goals but also netted Burgos and Zamora Big West Player of the Week honors.

ZAMORA REGAINS SCORING REIGNS: A three-goal barrage against Cal State Northridge Oct. 24 not only reaffirmed David Zamora’s Mustang lead for goals (six), points (14), shots (32) and shots on target (14), but moved the Costa Rica native into second place on the program career goals chart with 20 and into third with 45 points. Zamora, who snapped a six-match scoring drought with his first career hat trick, has earned two assists this season and paced Cal Poly in shot attempts a team-best eight times. Entering Wednesday’s match versus UC Riverside, Zamora ranks second among Big West players in goals and fifth in points.

GASHING THE OPPOSITION: No Mustang has been more successful in aiding Cal Poly’s offensive cause than freshman midfielder Chris Gaschen, who pushed his team-leading total to four assists after earning two in a 3-1 victory against Cal State Northridge on Oct. 24. Gaschen, who also earned two assists in Cal Poly’s 4-0 drubbing of Sacramento State on Sept. 18, enters Wednesday’s match versus UC Riverside ranked sixth among Big West players in both assists and assists per match (0.31).

MUSTANGS IN GOOD HANDS: Cal Poly junior goalkeeper and Oct. 5 Big West Player of the Week selection Patrick McLain enters Wednesday’s affair against UC Riverside having conceded only six goals during his previous 647 minutes in net, a stretch that allows for a goal every 108 minutes and includes clean sheets at Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 30), against UC Davis (Oct. 4) and at UC Riverside (Oct. 17). McLain also conceded just a solitary goal at then-No. 7 UC Santa Barbara during a 1-0 loss on Oct. 7. Including freshman Brett Finkelstein’s Oct. 10 non-conference shutout of Cal State Bakersfield, Mustang goalkeepers have allowed only six goals during the previous 757 minutes. Among Big West goalkeepers, McLain ranks first in save percentage (.825), second in saves per match (4.73) and fourth in goals against average (1.13).

TALE OF TWO SITES: While the Mustangs are 5-1 in Alex G. Spanos Stadium in 2009, have outscored their opponents at home, 13-5, and conceded just four goals from open play in 559 minutes, Cal Poly’s 1-0 victory at cellar-dwelling UC Riverside Oct. 17 was just the program’s second victory away from the central coast in 10 attempts this season. Cal Poly has been outscored away from home this year, 15-7. Aside from a game-winning goal by UNLV’s Nick Marshall on Sept. 1, the Mustangs have failed to trail at home this season – a run of 450-straight minutes.

MUSTANGS LOOK TO STAY IN FRONT: Despite outscoring opponents during the first half this season, 10-8, the Mustangs have led on only one occasion during their eight defeats and failed to equalize when conceding the opening goal. Along similar lines, Cal Poly is 4-1 when leading at halftime, but 0-4 when trailing. Cal Poly has never relinquished a lead this season.

MUSTANGS SPORT MULTI-PRONGED ATTACK: Cal Poly featured 10 separate goal scorers last season, but Daniel Anderson’s 18th-minute game-winning strike at UC Riverside Oct. 17 made him the ninth Mustang to find the back of the net in 2009. The Mustangs have also featured a variety of offense from some unlikely sources. While sophomore midfielder Jacob Hustedt equaled his goal total from a year ago with two first-half strikes against Sacramento State on Sept. 18, junior defender Daniel Gray’s penalty at No. 11 California Sept. 13 was his first goal since Nov. 18, 2007 – a span of 26 matches. Sophomore defender Cameron Walters, who has started all 30 matches he has appeared in since his 2008 debut, notched his first career goal at Stanford Sept. 11 while freshman midfielder Michael Hocker scored his initial collegiate goal in the Sacramento State drubbing.

DISCIPLINE MATTERS: Fourteen different Mustangs have earned at least one yellow card this season, but Cal Poly remains far from the most-disciplined Big West program. Cal Poly’s 26 total yellows and 1.62 bookings per match pale in comparison to UC Santa Barbara, which has accumulated 36 yellows and averages a conference-best 2.40 per match. Additionally, Cal Poly’s 200 fouls and 12.50 stoppages per match are the fewest of any conference program. Conference-leading UC Santa Barbara, however, has committed 241 fouls and averages 16.07 per match.

HOLOCHER MAKES CAL POLY A BIG WEST WINNER: Only one Big West program – central coast rival UC Santa Barbara – has totaled more conference points, produced more conference victories and suffered fewer conference defeats than Cal Poly since Mustang head coach Paul Holocher’s 2006 arrival. Below are the composite Big West standings since the start of the 2006 conference schedule.

Big West Standings (2006-Present)
1. UC Santa Barbara – 26-8-5( 83)
2. Cal Poly – 19-11-10 (67)
3. UC Irvine – 16-14-8 (56)
4. Cal State Northridge – 14-13-11 (53)
5. UC Davis* – 13-11-7 (46)
6. Cal State Fullerton – 10-24-5 (35)
7. UC Riverside – 5-24-8 (23)
*Joined Big West in 2007

MUSTANGS ON THE SPOT: Cal Poly converted just two of five penalty opportunities last season, but the Mustangs have buried all five attempts from the spot in 2009. David Zamora leads the way with two penalties this season, having converted in home victories versus San Jose State (2-1, Sept. 20) and Cal State Northridge (3-1, Oct. 24).

RIGHT ON TIME: Both of the goals senior forward Daniel Cumming has scored this season have been game-winning strikes to help Cal Poly salvage valuable home points. Against San Jose State Sept. 20, Cumming’s 77th-minute strike broke a 1-1 deadlock. On Oct. 3 against UC Davis, Cumming found the back of the net two minutes before halftime to help Cal Poly post a 1-0 victory. Among Big West players, only two players have totaled more game-winning goals than Cumming.

MUSTANGS FEATURE POWER-PACKED SCHEDULE: With a match looming against No. 4 UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 4, the conference portion of Cal Poly’s schedule is amongst the most demanding in Division I. That didn’t stop Paul Holocher from compiling a testing non-conference schedule. Cal Poly entered its Sept. 5 match at Creighton against a Jays side that was ranked second in the nation while California was a consensus No. 11 during its Sept. 13 showdown against the Mustangs. Furthermore, Stanford and Portland were both unranked when facing Cal Poly, but have since, respectively, risen to No. 21 and the receiving votes category of the Oct. 26 edition of the NSCAA/adidas Top 25 Poll.

SIGLER NAMED TO HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST: Following a 2008 campaign in which he was named Co-Big West Freshman of the Year and helped anchor a defensive line that paced all conference programs with nine shutouts, Mustang center back Patrick Sigler was selected to the 38-member Hermann Trophy Watch List Aug. 11. Presented by the Missouri Athletic Club since 1967 to the most outstanding Division I player, the 38-member watch list will be cut to 15 in November with three finalists announced in early December. The 2009 Hermann Trophy recipient will be announced Jan. 8, 2010 during a banquet at the St. Louis-based Missouri Athletic Club. Sigler, the lone Big West player selected to the watch list, has started each of Cal Poly’s 16 matches this season and scored twice.

CAL POLY’S PROFESSIONAL OFFSEASON: A trio of former Mustangs inked professional contracts during the offseason, the most high profile of which was defender Anton Peterlin. The 2008 All-Big West first team selection joined Everton Football Club of England’s Barclays Premier League from Ventura County Fusion of the American fourth-tier Professional Developmental League on July 1 for an undisclosed fee. After appearing in a handful of preseason matches, Peterlin came on as a substitute during each of Everton reserves’ first four contests. Peterlin has since started both of Everton’s last two matches, most recently during a 1-0 defeat of Bolton Oct. 19. Everton reserves (2-0-4) next host Liverpool reserves Tuesday, Nov. 3. Joining Peterlin in the professional fold are brothers Mario and Carlos Fernandez, both currently on one-year contracts with Spanish side Santa Pola CF. Carlos made an immediate impact upon his arrival, notching the only goal for Santa Pola CF in a 1-0 August victory against Crevillente. Carlos, appearing in central midfield, has played every minute of every match for Santa Pola while Mario, showcasing his skills as the lone striker in attack, also has a game-winning goal to his credit. Santa Pola CF competes in the fifth-tier Regional Preferente de la Comunitat Valenciana.

ETC: Home victories against Cal State Fullerton Oct. 14 (3-2) and Cal State Northridge Oct. 24 (3-1) remain the program’s only wins this year when being both outshot by the opposition and recording more saves … Cal Poly’s 2-1 loss at No. 22 UC Irvine Oct. 21 was the program’s first this season when leading at halftime.