RIVERSIDE --- As students make their way to Riverside for another year at California Baptist University, a Saturday night meeting between the Lancers and Cal Poly is set to highlight the packed weekend schedule. In the first-ever meeting of the two schools, CBU will look to extend its unbeaten start while gaining an early look at next season's conference foe.
 
The Lancers are coming off a 2-1 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Monday night. Monday's matchup with the Roadrunners was the first of six looks at CBU's new conference, the Big West, which they will join in 2026. Other looks at the Big West include Saturday's match with Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton (Sep. 8), UC Irvine (Sep. 22), UC Riverside (Sep. 26), and Utah Valley (Oct. 18).
 
Utah Valley will be transitioning from the WAC to the Big West, along with CBU, after this season.
 
Freshman winger Liam Jones has been the showstopper through two matches. The Englishman has scored three goals and dealt one assist, earning him WAC Player of the Week honors on Tuesday. His goal in the 65th minute of Monday's match proved to be the winning strike. He also assisted Stavros Charalampous' winning goal in the 65th minute of last week's 3-2 victory over American.
 

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Blake D'Agostino scored the other goal for the Lancers on Monday, a successful penalty attempt in the 63rd minute.
 
The 2-0 start to the season is the first in the Lancers' Division I era. CBU's last 2-0 start came in 2017, the university's final season as a Division II program.
 
Saturday night will be the first-ever meeting between CBU and Cal Poly in men's soccer. The Mustangs lost their official season opener, 2-0, against WAC program San Jose State on August 21. The Mustangs were picked to finish second in the Big West preseason poll behind UC Santa Barbara. Four Mustangs made up the 11-player Big West Preseason Team: Nicky McCune, Parker Owens, Quinn Mahoney, and Diego Guerra.
 
The Mustangs returned nine starters from their 2024 roster, a team that finished the season 7-4-8 overall.
 
Saturday's match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. under the lights of CBU Soccer Stadium. Tickets for the Welcome Weekend matchup are available HERE.