SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—Whitney Paskins scored the game winner in the 85th minute to lift Utah Valley to its first win of the season in a 3-2 road victory over Cal Poly on Sunday night at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California.
 
The win pushes Utah Valley to 1-3-1 overall on the season, while Cal Poly falls to 0-3-2. Utah Valley now returns home to welcome in-state rival Weber State to Clyde Field on Tuesday night.
 
"I think the team showed a lot of character tonight," said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay. "When you are 0-3-1 on the season and you go down a goal two times in the match, it would have been easy for us to put our heads down. We battled the entire 90 and that is something that we failed to do so far this season is give a consistent effort through the entire match. We're very excited and I'm proud of our team."
 
Cal Poly took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute after Georgina Stiegeler got down the left side and made her way past a UVU defender and scored to give the Mustangs the early lead.
 
The Wolverines got on the scoreboard in the 33rd minute after Megan Sullivan sent a ball into the box from the left side that found the head of Breanna McCarter. McCarter headed ball over­­ to Amber Tripp who then fired a shot past the Cal Poly keeper to tie the score, 1-1.
 
The Mustangs took back the lead in the 52nd minute as Clare Murphy passed a ball down the right side to Brooke Rubinstein who then found the back of the net to put Cal Poly back on top, 2-1.
 
Utah Valley's McCarter received a pass from Sadie Brockbank on the right side and fired a shot into the back of the net in the 82nd minute to tie the match, 2-2. Just three minutes later, Whitney Paskins gave UVU the lead after she rebounded a ball in front of the net and fired in a shot in the 85th minute to put the Wolverines on top, 3-2.
 
"We were breaking their pressure and I thought you could feel something was coming," said Lemay. "The two goals came because we were persistent and continued to apply pressure and stick to what we wanted to do."
 
Utah Valley outshot Cal Poly 16-12 on the night, including a 9-6 advantage on goal. McCarter led the Wolverines with six shots, including a team-best four shots on goal. The senior forward finished the night with one goal and one assist. Tripp and Paskins each had a pair of shots, while six other Wolverines tallied one shot.
 
Sarah Davis picked up the win in the box for UVU. The senior keeper tallied four saves on the night.
 
Utah Valley returns to home to take on in-state rival Weber State on Tuesday at Clyde Field. The game is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. (MT).