Cal Poly Stays Undefeated in WCLL

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The Cal Poly men’s lacrosse team rolled to an 18-4 victory over visiting Chico State on Saturday. The game saw 11 different Mustang players tally points in a lopsided WCLL league game that helps propel the Mustangs to a 4-0 conference record and 10-1 overall. Next up is a league showdown against Stanford next weekend.

Cal Poly’s defense, anchored by close defender Gideon Baum and goalie Sean Pihl, ground down the visiting Wildcats. The Mustangs' defense is allowing just six goals a game this season and held Chico to just four.

The Mustangs scored early and often starting with Ben Berkow (1g, 2a) at 9:23 of the first quarter, hitting from outside. Cal Poly scored again when A.J. Guralas (5g) scored at the 7:58 mark. CP scored again when Matthew Paul (2g, 2a) made a nifty feed from X to Guralas for the finish. Berkow hit freshman Ben Smith (1g), who ripped it top shelf to make the score 4-0 just under two minutes later.

The first quarter blitz continued when freshman Evan Hunter (1g, 1a) fed Patrick Schneider (3g); fresh off being sidelined for injuries; for his first goal of the game. Guralas scored twice before the end of the first quarter to have Cal Poly leading 7-0.

The second quarter showed life for Chico State as Wildcats scored first at 13:38. Cal Poly answered with the next three, with Paul assisting Schneider; a solo goal by Guralas and another Schneider goal to make it 10-1 Cal Poly at the half.

The third quarter again showed Chico State beginning hot with a goal just over a minute in. Then at 12:06, Berkow hit Andrew Horton (2g) and Paul went solo to make it 12-2. Chico scored again at the 9:10 mark, but would not threaten the rest of the way.

The win makes Cal Poly tied atop the WCLL regular league standings with Stanford. The Mustangs will be looking for some pay back against the Cardinal from their loss last year in the WCLL finals in Novato.