{"id":998,"date":"2026-03-05T06:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=998"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:01:30","slug":"mustangs-fall-to-golden-bears-36-26-travel-to-santa-cruz-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=998","title":{"rendered":"Mustangs fall to Golden Bears, 36-26, travel to Santa Cruz this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz Goethals, the Mustangs\u2019 leading try-scorer, notched three more and led the team in tackles, while Mia Nelson went 3 of 4 on conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cal Poly dominated first-half possession, doubling Cal\u2019s number of attacking rucks, 126 to 60, Mustangs\u2019 assistant coach Paul Cappellano said, but couldn\u2019t win the territory battle. \u201cCal defended well, their centers were tackling our forward ball,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we couldn’t get it wide enough, quick enough to take advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cappellano 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 \u201cled the charge defensively\u201d on top of multiple line breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe performed well in the set pieces, winning all of our scrums and lineouts,\u201d Cappellano said. \u201cWhen we fell behind, we continued to attack and scored on the last play even though we were down three scores.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the continued fight through 80 minutes, a positive trait shared by both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as improvements, Cappellano said he would make minor adjustments on offense and defense: \u201cDefensively, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see how we respond,\u201d Cappellano said, citing the team\u2019s first conference loss since 2023. \u201cWe are a little banged up, travel this weekend and will have some work to do against Santa Cruz. Let\u2019s come away with a win and stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cal Poly and UC Santa Cruz will play in Santa Cruz. Kickoff is generally 1 p.m. when Santa Cruz plays at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019 leading try-scorer, notched three more and led the team in tackles, while Mia Nelson went 3 of 4 on conversions.  Cal … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"\nMustangs fall to Golden Bears, 36-26, travel to Santa Cruz this weekend - Mustang Rugby Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=998\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mustangs fall to Golden Bears, 36-26, travel to Santa Cruz this weekend - Mustang Rugby Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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