For the Warriors, they will have to wait until this weekend to earn a spot in the upcoming California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship tournament. With the loss, Cal State Stanislaus falls to 11-5-1 overall and 9-5-1 in the CCAA North. The Warriors stay in second place, one point behind San Francisco State.
The Warriors would have secured a spot in the conference tournament, to be played at Warrior Stadium Nov. 5-7, with a win on Wednesday. Instead, they will need a Cal State Dominguez Hills loss on Friday or a win over Chico State at home today.
Trying to play the spoiler role, Chico State improved to 8-8-1 overall and 7-7-1 in the CCAA. The Wildcats have now won seven of the teams last nine meetings (7-1-1). The rivalry has now also produced five one-goal matches in the last six contests.
"We battled hard tonight. I'm proud of the effort we gave. Offensively we just need finish our opportunities," Stanislaus head coach Gabriel Bolton said.
After CSUS starting goalkeeper Millie Brown left the game in the 18th minute due to an injury, the Warriors took a 1-0 lead. Marissa Dunaway collected a rebound from a Sierra Casas shot and knocked it in to give put Stanislaus on the board at 26:22.
The Wildcats, however, scored two unanswered goals in the second half by two players coming off the bench. First it was Denni Jo Berger's diving header in the 59th minute. Then Jenni Barto sent in the game-winner at 77:03.
The Warriors had two very good chances to equal the score in the final minutes with Alisa Barlow (83:46) and Bernie Bettencourt (87:31) with scoring opportunities. Both shots, however, were picked up by Chico's second goalkeeper Sydney Oliver.
The Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State rematch is today at Warrior Stadium in the regular season finale. The Warriors will be celebrating senior night with six seniors appearing in their final regular season contest. Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7 p.m.
"We are looking forward to playing on Saturday night at our field. It's going to be a special night for our seniors," Bolton said.
Chico State rallies for win against Warrior men
The Cal State Stanislaus men's soccer team not only did not pick up the three points in the standings they coverted Wednesday night, the Warriors in fact lost two points on the day.
Prior to Wednesday's match at No. 13 Chico State, the Warriors had a win taken away from them due to a protest that was granted by the NCAA Rules Committee. Then, against the Wildcats, the Warriors could not hold a 1-0 first half lead, before losing 2-1.
Wednesday afternoon, Warrior Athletics was notified by e-mail that Cal State East Bay's protest of the Oct. 15 match in Hayward was granted. The decision turned a last-second Stanislaus victory in double overtime into a scoreless tie. That was the match when Arturo Pulido scored with one second left in the second OT on a free kick to give the Warriors a 1-0 win.
Cal State East Bay, however, argued that the time had already expired when the foul was called.
That decision, and the 2-1 loss in Chico, turned Wednesday into a tough day for the men's soccer team. The Warriors now found themselves in third place in the CCAA North after falling to 8-5-4 overall and 7-5-3 in conference play. Stanislaus now must win today against Chico State and hope to get a lot of help from other CCAA teams to qualify for the conference tournament.
Wednesday at Chico's University Soccer Stadium, the Warriors took an early 1-0 lead against the 13th ranked team in the nation. The Wildcats also entered the week as the No. 2 ranked team in the West.
Andres Zamora scored his team-leading sixth goal of the year at 20:10 on a header to give Stanislaus the lead. The lead would hold up until the second half when Chico State scored two unanswered goals by the Wildcats two scoring leaders to rally from behind for the win.
Chris Akwaja tied the match at 64:44 and about 10 minutes later, Ferid Celosmanovic knocked in the eventual game-winner.
Chico State clinches the North Division and a berth in the CCAA Championships as the Wildcats improved to 13-4 overall and 11-4 in conference play. The Warriors will meet Chico State again today at Warrior Stadium at 7 p.m. for the regular season finale.