Cal Poly Wins Thriller over the Sun Devils

February 20, 2016 (Tempe, AZ) - The Cal Poly Mustangs (#7) traveled to Arizona State University (#3) today and came away with a win in a thriller, 5-4.

With a team that has only a single senior on its roster, the Cal Poly Mustangs won a close, hard fought victory over ASU Sun Devils. The match was tied three different times.

Cal Poly drew first blood with 4:01 left in the first quarter with a goal from freshman Patrick Schneider off a nifty assist from Andrew Laron. Arizona came back with two goals in the second quarter to take a 2-1 lead going into half time.

Cal Poly evened the score at 2-2 with 9:32 remaining in the quarter with a goal by freshman AJ Guralas with the assist from Patrick Schneider. The Mustangs continued their third quarter scoring binge with a goal at 6:45 from Andrew Laron assisted by Sophomore Ben Berkow. The quarter scoring ended with just three seconds left in the quarter when Loran again found the back of the net off a feed from Joe Dresser. Arizona added another tally in the third and the Mustangs ended the quarter leading 4-3.

Going into the fourth quarter Cal Poly took a two goal lead at 9:04 when with Joe Dresser finished off a terrific feed from John Corbolotti with a blistering shot into the top corner of the net. Arizona added another goal late in the fourth and rallied hard but fell short.

The game was most notable for the defensive play of the Mustangs, led by yet another sterling performance in goal by team captain Sean Pihl. Pihl repeatedly denied ASU’s offense and led a spectacular defensive performance that smothered and throttled a stalwart Arizona offense. It made for a difficult day for the Sun Devils and a great team victory for the Mustangs in their inaugural season under new head coach Bobby Dabrieo.

Defensive Coordinator Chris Nespor stated “We played a real solid game defensively. We stuck to the game plan and kept ASU’s offense from taking high percentage shots. When they did break our defense Pihl made some great saves, including a handful in the 4th quarter that helped finish the game."