It took junior All-American Matt Davey less than nine minutes to do something that took the entire Cal Poly Pomona offense nearly 90 minutes to accomplish in the men’s soccer 6-1 victory on Sept. 25 at RIMAC Arena: to score one goal. If there was any misunderstanding about how well Davey could infiltrate the Broncos’ defense, he handily scored his second goal of the evening at the 39:02 mark in the first half. For good measure, he sealed a hat trick with a final first-half goal just 54 seconds later on a penalty kick. By halftime, there was no mistaking the most dangerous player on the field, as Davey was responsible for every goal on the scoreboard.
Davey’s first goal came as he drilled a shot from more than 25 yards out that flew into the upper left corner of the net at the 8:59 mark.Sophomore midfielder Chase Douglas assisted Davey for his second goal. Davey converted the pass and put it into the lower right from 15 yards out.
The Tritons rolled into the second half riding on the momentum of Davey’s hat trick. Junior defender Garrett King scored on a pass from Brian Jacobs in the 59th minute, followed by unassisted goals from senior David Amaya at 78:25 and junior Grant Nishio at 85:46, to give the Tritons a 6-0 advantage.
Finally, in the waning moments of the match, Cal Poly Pomona snuck past senior goalie Edward Ruhland to tally the Broncos’ only score of the match and prevnt the shutout.
In the competition, the UCSD offense outshot the Broncos 17-4, but Cal Poly Pomona retaliated physically and earned 26 fouls to the Tritons’ 19.
Head coach Derek Armstrong tallied his 298th career win, opening the door to the possibility of a home victory over San Francisco State for his 300th career win on Oct. 3.
UCSD maintains its undefeated 4-0-2 record, with a 3-0-1 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Tritons begin a two-day homestand on Oct. 1 with a 7 p.m. match against Sonoma State, then an Oct. 3 game against San Francisco State at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at RIMAC Arena.
