LOS ANGELES – The Cal Poly men’s soccer program outshot No. 1 UCLA on Sunday evening and placed more attempts on target and junior goalkeeper Wade Hamilton recorded three saves to chalk up a third successive shutout as the Mustangs produced a scoreless draw against the Bruins in a nationally-televised, Pac-12 Network matchup from Drake Stadium.

Sophomore winger Justin Dhillon fired a team-leading three shot attempts for Cal Poly (4-1-1), which outshot the top-ranked Bruins (3-1-2) 15-12 and placed five shots on target to UCLA’s four. Hamilton, who made his final save in the 99th-minute to preserve the draw, improved his goalless streak to 339 consecutive minutes and lowered his season goals against average to 0.96.

“I thought we made the right adjustments at halftime. We took a lot of pressure in the first half, didn’t adjust quick enough but, in the second, we were very good defensively,” Mustang interim head coach Phil Ruskin said. “I want to commend our players on a third straight shutout.”

With Sunday’s draw, the Mustangs remained unbeaten in their last five matches and unbeaten in their last three trips to UCLA’s Drake Stadium. Previously, Cal Poly trounced then-No. 6 UCLA 3-0 last season and eliminated the Bruins from the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament in a 1-0 decision.

Despite being held without a shot for the opening 21 minutes, Cal Poly produced the first scoring threat of Sunday as junior midfielder Chase Minter forced UCLA senior goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. in a 22nd-minute save.

The Mustangs then nearly broke an early deadlock in the 43rd with Dhillon turned away by Edwards.

Hamilton registered his first save in the 60th minute and Cal Poly hit back in the 72nd with junior Kip Colvey laying off a pass to senior midfielder Steve Palacios, who fired off an attempt stopped by Edwards.

“Chase and Steve were both excellent going forward,” Ruskin said. “Both were able to break some of UCLA’s pressure in critical moments and be dangerous moving into UCLA’s half.”

Cal Poly enjoyed two final chances to snatch three points in regulation, but sophomore forward John Chronopoulos and freshman forward Kaba Alkebulan were stopped five seconds apart by Edwards in the 88th minute.

Into overtime, Cal Poly produced four shot attempt in the second extra period, but was unable to find the match winner.

Cal Poly resumes action when opening a five-match home stand beginning against San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m.

“The key is to continue to get better on both sides of ball,” Ruskin added. “We have a nice home stand coming up, but the most important thing is to use the next three games to improve for conference play.”

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