By Cael Cross, September 23, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona’s men’s soccer team cruised to a 6-2 win over Westmont College at Kellogg Stadium Sept.13, grabbing its first home victory of the season off a second-half hat trick from midfielder Aleksandar Somov.
Somov’s hattrick notched the 16th hat trick in the program’s history. CPP also equaled its goal tally from the first three games combined and scored six goals in a match for a third consecutive season.
The Broncos found themselves on the backfoot early, conceding an early goal to Westmont in the 8th minute.
Westmont continued to pressure CPP’s backline with a physical style of play, but the Broncos grew into the match as the half continued.
CPP evened the score 1-1 in the 26th minute after forward Jakob Singh won a penalty that midfielder Daniel Hernandez converted to a goal.
The momentum continued to shift toward CPP’s favor with five minutes left in the first half as forward Sam Lena put in a cross from the left-hand side, reaching defender Joseph Spencer at the back post to poke the ball into the back of the net.
This gave the Broncos a 2-1 lead going to the break. It also marked Spencer’s first goal for the Broncos, who noted the importance of being able to overcome an early deficit.
“We’ve had ups and downs,” Spencer said. “We know what we’re about. There’s always belief no matter what happens. Whether there’s 70 minutes left in the game or there’s 10, we know we can come back.”
The men’s soccer players shifted into another gear coming out of the break, scoring three goals in just 16 minutes.
Somov started the goal flurry with a long-range strike in the 51st minute after some link-up play with midfielder Daniel Gutierrez.
Defender Noah Ko won the ball in the final third three minutes later, skipping past his man and delivering a cross into the box, which forward Marvin Gamez met with a powerful strike to add another goal.
Somov scored his second of three goals in the 61st minute with a scissor kick to the near post that extended the lead to 5-1. Forward Devin Jenkins and defender Victor Casillas both earned assists.
Westmont responded with a second goal two minutes later, but the Broncos’ defense was able to hold off Westmont’s pressure for the remainder of the match.
“Pressure, that’s a privilege,” Spencer said. “We need to use that to our advantage and make sure we make the most of it.”
Somov capped off his hat trick in the 90th minute with an outside-the-box chip shot after latching onto a pass from Singh, ending the match 6-2.
The Broncos outshot their opponents 17-10, the third time they’ve done so this season.
The victory improved CPP’s record to 2-1-1 and brought the men’s team back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
CPP also improved its all-time record against Westmont to 2-0, with the former coming by way of a 2-1 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.
Head coach Matt O’Sullivan emphasized the importance of early-season matchups against different types of teams.
“I think we do a really good job of scheduling the right opponents because we’re playing different types of teams,” O’Sullivan said. “Some play long, some play three at the back, some play four at the back, some play really aggressive, some play a little bit sit-off, and I think what we normally do before conference rolls around is we have a really good schedule of different types of teams.”
CPP will continue its preseason tour, taking a two-game trip to Colorado to face Metropolitan State University of Denver Sept. 19, followed by Colorado School of Mines Sept. 21.
Feature image courtesy of Cael Cross