By Cesar Rivas, Aug 26, 2025
The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team returns to the pitch in its first preseason game against Azusa Pacific University Sept. 4 at Kellogg Stadium with hopes of defending the program’s first ever NCAA Division II National Championship.
The Broncos concluded their historic campaign with a program record of 22-1-2, which included a record for 10 wins at home, and culminated with the program’s first national championship win against the Minnesota State Mavericks.
The championship campaign was a collected effort from the Broncos, including female CCAA Athlete of the Year Tara Oper and goalkeeper Bella Hara, who recently signed with Fort Lauderdale Football Club in the USL Super League.
Head coach Jay Mason enters his ninth season at the helm for the Broncos, with an overall record of 82-48-23 (.611). Mason found a recipe for success winning consecutive CCAA titles in 2023 and 2024. All these accolades did not go unnoticed, as Mason and his staff were voted as the DII NCAA Coaching Staff of the Year.
“ They’re the most supportive coaching staff I think I’ve ever played for,” senior forward Angelina Rivas said. “They really care about how we feel mentally on and off the field, and they know that it’s more than just soccer at the end of the day.”
Despite the historic successes they achieved last year, the women’s soccer players are shifting their sights for the upcoming season.
“Our mindset is focusing on not the pressures of what we accomplished last year, but what we can accomplish this year,” senior forward Anna Schellpeper said. “We really want to focus on that.”
The Broncos got to work early, holding captain-led practices towards the end of summer, too and the coaching staff joined just weeks later.
The Broncos will start the season with a target on their back, after being ranked No. 1 in the CCAA pre-season poll for the second year in a row.
“We know people are coming for us, but we’re going to be going even harder, and that our opponents aren’t going to be hunting us, but we are hunting them instead,” Schellpeper said.
Rivas started 16 of the 22 games she appeared in last season and recorded nine goals and three assists, earning herself an All-CCAA Honorable Mention and a spot in the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
Senior forward Marisa Salazar tallied nine goals and five assists in 20 games played. That earned her All-CCAA second team honors, while senior defender Giselle Samayoa was one of six Broncos to start every game.
With 33 total players on the roster, the Broncos are relying on their 16 upperclassmen to set an example. “We’re really trying to keep a standard for what we want to hold on the team, and we have had these successes, not just as seniors, having experience and having these areas of knowledge that we have to be able to bring everyone together so that we can really be successful as a team overall,” Schellpeper said.
Rivas mentioned the importance of every game that is scheduled for the Broncos, as each match gets them closer to their goal.
“They’re all just as important as another, and every game goes towards our record and towards what we’re striving for.,” Rivas said. “So every single game I’d circle.”
Feature image courtesy of Isaiah Vazquez
