University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score  
 
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—After falling behind early in the first half in front of a raucous crowd at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, the Dons rallied in the second and had several chances for an equalizer but were unable to capitalize as they fell to Cal Poly 2-1 on Friday night.
 
"We had a couple of really good opportunities," San Francisco head coach Eddie Soto said. "We missed chances and they hurt you… We were patient, we were building, we were breaking them down. It just didn't happen."
 
Chase Hauser was put to work early in the first half. In the 10th minute, Cal Poly started to get an offensive rhythm going and that is when Steve Palacios knifed his way through the USF defense to get a shot off in the penalty box but it was sent away on a diving save by Hauser.
 
No more than two minutes later, Cal Poly was at it again. This time it was John Chronopoulos ho went from right to left across the top of the box when he fired but Hauser was there to knock it into the air on a dive. But the Dons were unlucky on this pass as the ball landed near the left post and it was chipped in by Joseph Bolous to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.
 
"We played scared, we played nervous," Soto said of the first half. "We never got ourselves into a rhythm. It took us too long to get going."
 
The Dons came out of the half on fire and were on the attack for much of the second period. Within the first minute of play, Bryce Kaminski fired a shot but had it saved by Cal Poly goalkeeper Wade Hamilton. In the 52nd minute, it was Joshua Smith who took his turn but was met with the same result.
 
The Dons' best chance came in the 53rd minute when Danny Kirkland found Jesus Del Toro cutting through the Mustang defense but had his shot go just wide.
 
"He was inside the box and the shot just went wide," Soto said. It was exactly how we talked about breaking them down."
 
Within a 10-minute period of the second half, the Dons rolled off four shots and had three corner kicks. The Dons ended the match with seven shots on goal.
 
The Dons could not capitalize and it let Cal Poly get another chance. This time, the Mustangs scored in the 70th minute when Kip Colvey delivered a cross into the box and Matt LaGrassa headed it in for the score.
 
Hauser finished the match with a season-high five saves.
 
The Dons finally got on the board during a final flurry when David Garrett played Smith into the penalty box and he found the back of the net to make it a 2-1 match.
 
San Francisco will return to action next Friday when they return home to face UC Davis at 7 p.m. during Alumni Weekend.