Cal Poly falls on the road to Sacramento State despite four saves from GK Eric Kam

A 43rd-minute goal by Christian Webb was all Sacramento State needed to come away with a 1-0 win Wednesday afternoon over the Cal Poly men’s soccer team at Hornet Field in Sacramento.

Junior goalkeeper Eric Kam recorded four saves in the losing effort.

Cal Poly sophomore midfielder George Grote led all players with four shot attempts, and the Mustangs outshot the Hornets, 13-9. Cal Poly, however, placed just two of its attempts on target in seeing a five-match unbeaten run snapped at Sacramento State that dated to Oct. 22, 2000.

With his 80th career appearance, senior defender Kody Wakasa marked a highlight for Cal Poly, setting a new program record for games played, eclipsing the previous mark held by defender Patrick Sigler (2008-11) and forward David Zamora (2007-10).

With its victory, second-place Sacramento State (7-6-2, 3-3-1; 10 points) moved six points clear of the Mustangs (3-9-2, 1-5-1; four points) in the Big West Conference North Division standings with three matches remaining. Cal Poly also trails third-place UC Davis (7-7-2, 3-4-0; nine points) by five points.

Cal Poly continues its three-match road trip at Blue-Green rival and first-place UC Santa Barbara (9-5-2, 5-0-2; 17 points) on Saturday.

With Kam chalking up saves in the fifth and 16th minutes, Cal Poly enjoyed multiple opportunities to grab an early lead with junior forward Ramiro Molina-Valerio forcing Sacramento State goalkeeper James Del Curto into a sixth-minute save before freshman forward Kenneth Higgins whistled a shot over the crossbar on seven minutes, Grote dragged an attempt wide of the right post in the 23rd and senior forward Justin Dhillon fired a free kick high in the 31st.

Outshot 9-5 in the first half, Sacramento State nevertheless produced the opening goal two minutes prior to halftime with Webb dribbling along the top of the Mustang penalty area before unleashing a shot past Kam.

Kam preserved Cal Poly’s 1-0 deficit with saves in the 62nd and 69th minutes, but the Mustangs produced just one shot in goal in the second half.

This story was originally published October 19, 2016 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Cal Poly falls on the road to Sacramento State despite four saves from GK Eric Kam."