CHICO, Calif. - The 22nd-ranked Cal Poly Pomona men's soccer team had to work extra hard to duck around a red card and come away with a valuable road point at Chico State, 2-2, in a key California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) clash at University Soccer Stadium under Friday night lights.

With the entertaining stalemate, CPP moves to 8-1-5 overall, 3-0-4 in the CCAA and 3-1-3 on the road. The Broncos' unbeaten streak has now reached 12 games at 7-0-5, the program's longest such stretch since another 12-gamer (10-0-2) from Sept. 15 to Oct. 31, 2021.

Chico State is now 9-2-3 overall, 3-1-3 in league play and 4-1-3 at home. The Wildcats are receiving votes outside of this past Tuesday's latest United Soccer Coaches national top 25. These teams are fourth and fifth in that same organization's most recent West Region poll.

Heading into Friday's action, Cal Poly Pomona and No. 3 Cal State LA remained in a two-way tie for first in the conference standings, both one point ahead of Chico State. The table at the end of the night has the Broncos, Golden Eagles and Cal State Dominguez Hills now in a three-way tie, as Cal State LA surrendered two late goals to settle for a 3-3 home draw with Cal State East Bay, while CSUDH knocked off Cal State San Marcos in Carson, 3-1.

Early on, junior midfielder Woody Angell had back-to-back shots in the 12th minute blocked away by Wildcat defenders. Moments later at 15:49, the visitors grabbed the lead, as junior striker Mads Frederiksen hit his shot to the upper left of the frame. It was the Denmark native's second of 2024 and seventh in the Green and Gold.

CPP did not surrender an initial shot until the 25th minute, with fourth-year junior goalkeeper Luke Garciduenas denying senior defender Preston Moll the equalizer. The Broncos nearly doubled their advantage in the 40th minute, but senior tri-captain Fin Jackson's effort led to what was credited as a team save for the Chico State defense.

With just 12 seconds left in the first half, suddenly the contest was back even at 1-1. The score came again to the upper left, from sophomore midfielder Sylas Sells, who had entered the fray in the 24th minute. Moll was the provider for his third assist. It was Sells' third goal.

The second half began with a 64-second flurry during which the two sides combined for three shots on goal, two of them by the Broncos, but Garciduenas and senior counterpart Emanuel Padilla held firm.

The 59th minute was an eventful one, and not in a good way, as though Garciduenas saved Chico State leading scorer Miles Rice's shot, Frederiksen just 37 seconds later was shown a direct red card, forcing Cal Poly Pomona to play a man down for the remaining 31:14.

Just over 12 minutes later in the 72nd, Josh Moll, Preston's younger brother, found the bottom left of the frame to give the hosts their first lead of the night. The unassisted tally was the sophomore midfielder's third this season.

That advantage barely lasted seven minutes and at 78:08, the Broncos were level again despite playing short. Aleksandar Somov was the scorer while true junior forward Sam Lena produced his third assist of 2024 and seventh of his college days. Somov, a true freshman midfielder from Sofia, Bulgaria, now has two goals, the other coming back on Sept. 20.

Garciduenas collected a season- and career-high-tying six saves, while Padilla made four stops. The Broncos held a 12-10 edge in shots taken, with Angell's five attempts pacing all players.

CPP and Chico State have now played to back-to-back 2-2 deadlocks the past two seasons, the first ties in the all-time series since the first-ever meeting between the programs back on Sept. 18, 1991, 1-1 in Chico.

Up Next
Cal Poly Pomona remains in Northern California to finally conclude a difficult stretch of five of six matches away from home, this Sunday afternoon, Oct. 27. Kickoff on Senior Day inside Warrior Stadium on the campus of seventh-placed Stanislaus State (6-4-4, 2-2-3 CCAA) in Turlock is slated for 2 p.m., after the fourth-ranked and still-undefeated CPP women take on the Warriors at 11:30 a.m. All CCAA men's and women's soccer matches feature live video feeds through FloSports.

Bronco Bits

• CPP is 59-16-23 (.719) overall under sixth-year (fifth season) head coach Matt O'Sullivan, who on Sept. 22 took over the No. 1 position in the program record book for wins.
• Veterans Luke Garciduenas and Fin Jackson were back in the starting lineup following one- and two-game absences.
• That duo made up the only changes from last Sunday's lineup, starting in place of Cody Lindeman and Jakob Singh, respectively.
• Daniel Gutierrez and Max Laguna are the lone Broncos who have started all 14 matches.
• O'Sullivan has used 11 different starting lineups through 14 games, with tonight's being the same as the Oct. 6 home victory over Cal State Monterey Bay and the Oct. 11 win at Cal State East Bay.
• Garciduenas, Jackson and fellow tri-captain Jasper Winslow played the full 90 minutes.
• Mads Frederiksen became the first CPP player to receive a red card since former captain Cesar Ruvalcaba on Oct. 27, 2022, in a 1-0 home loss to Cal State LA.
• Out of 1,260 minutes played this season, the Broncos have trailed for just 195:27.
• This is the fourth straight year that CPP has navigated an unbeaten streak of double-figure games.
• CPP leads the all-time series, 15-13-3, now an undefeated 5-0-2 over the last seven matchups, including four straight shutout wins prior to last year's 2-2 draw in Pomona when the Broncos were ranked ninth and the Wildcats third nationally.
• CPP is 7-9-2 against Chico State in Chico and 3-0-2 under O'Sullivan (2-0-1 on the road).
• The Broncos had won three in a row in Chico since a 1-0 loss via late goal on Oct. 2, 2016.
• CPP is 74-23-21 as a nationally-ranked program since 2002, including 36-10-20 under O'Sullivan and 8-1-5 in 2024.
• The Broncos and Wildcats were picked second and fourth, respectively, in the CCAA preseason poll, with CPP garnering one of 12 first-place votes.