Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance
The Mustangs fell to the California Golden Bears 36-26 in San Luis Obispo on Saturday, Feb. 28, the first loss of the season and their first conference defeat since 2023.
Liz Goethals, the Mustangs’ leading try-scorer, notched three more and led the team in tackles, while Mia Nelson went 3 of 4 on conversions.
Cal Poly dominated first-half possession, doubling Cal’s number of attacking rucks, 126 to 60, Mustangs’ assistant coach Paul Cappellano said, but couldn’t win the territory battle. “Cal defended well, their centers were tackling our forward ball,” he said. “But we couldn’t get it wide enough, quick enough to take advantage.”
Cappellanno said other players who played well included No. 8 Natalie Espindola — returning from a quarter in Australia — and Ellablu Wagner. Espindola had a 50-meter score in the first half while Wagner “led the charge defensively” on top of multiple line breaks.
The Mustangs were leading in the first half until an untimely interception by Cal at the 40-minute mark, Cappellano said. That gave Cal a 17-14 advantage at the break.
“We performed well in the set pieces, winning all of our scrums and lineouts,” Cappellano said. “When we fell behind, we continued to attack and scored on the last play even though we were down three scores.”
Despite the continued fight through 80 minutes, a positive trait shared by both the men’s and women’s squads in San Luis Obispo this season, a 19-point second-half run by the Golden Bears would prove to be too much to overcome.
As far as improvements, Cappellano said he would make minor adjustments on offense and defense: “Defensively, we would like to see our line speed improve as a team,” he said. “We would like to see a quicker attack out of our rucks and getting the ball wide before the cover defense had a chance to slide.”
Cal, who remains undefeated this season after finishing national runners-up last season, plays Fresno State next and finishes the conference slate with a home match against Stanford.
“Let’s see how we respond,” Cappellano said, citing the team’s first conference loss since 2023. “We are a little banged up, travel this weekend and will have some work to do against Santa Cruz. Let’s come away with a win and stay healthy.”
Cal Poly and UC Santa Cruz will play in Santa Cruz. Kickoff is generally 1 p.m. when Santa Cruz plays at home.