Late goal lifts Cal Poly past UCSB in Blue-Green rivalry game
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Defender Charlie Hogan’s 70th-minute equalizer was followed by Devin Bening’s 87th-minute game-winner Friday evening as the Cal Poly men’s soccer program – in front of a sellout crowd of 11,075 fans at Mustang Memorial Field – came from behind to defeat UC Santa Barbara in the Blue-Green rivalry opener, 2-1.
With the largest NCAA men’s soccer crowd of the season as the backdrop, UC Santa Barbara (4-3-2) took Friday’s opening lead on 35 minutes after an endline cross from defender Peleg Brown tipped off Cal Poly goalkeeper Mathew Guerra’s glove and into the path of Gauchos forward Zac Siebenlist. Bundled over in the box by Siebenlist and on his back, Mustang defender Keagan Rhodes inadvertently tapped the ball over the goal line.
Held without a shot on target for the initial 68 minutes, Cal Poly (4-2-3) equalized through Hogan (right), who redirected Colin Pearce’s corner past UC Santa Barbara goalkeeper Owen Beninga.
Three minutes from full time, Cal Poly midfielder Rylen Firouznam looped a ball into the box for Rhodes, who found Bening at the left post. Bening, an offseason transfer from Division III Occidental, bested Beninga for the game-winning goal.
Earning his third clean sheet of 2026, Guerra produced a career best six saves.
Friday’s sellout crowd of 11,075 marked the 11th time since 2008 that Cal Poly had sold out Mustang Memorial Field for the Blue-Green rivalry. The figure also matches the previous 10 for the 15th-highest regular season attendance figure in NCAA regular season history.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
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