CHICO, Calif. – The Chico State women's soccer team may not have known it was playing for sole possession of first place Friday night, but the WIldcats definitely played like it. Abby Stretch, Ashley Gunther, and Katherine Bagwell each scored as the Wildcats completely dominated play in a 3-0 victory against Humboldt State Friday night at University Soccer Stadium.
The Wildcats avenged a 2-1 defeat to the Lumberjacks earlier this season in Arcata with the convincing victory. They outshot their visitors 20-6, and only 10 saves by Lumberjacks goalkeeper Mikala Hernandez, many on Chico State breakaways, kept the game close.
Chico State improved to 9-4-1 overall and 7-2-1 in the CCAA. And by virtue of Cal State Stanislaus' 0-0 tie with Sonoma State Friday afternoon, the Wildcats moved into sole possession of first place in the CCAA North Division. Humboldt State fell to 3-11-2 overall and 1-9-0 in the CCAA.
After Hernandez made three solid saves on point-blank shot over the first six minutes of the match, the Wildcats broke through in the ninth minute. Bagwell got things moving in the right direction with a pass that met a running Melissa Lindsay at the top-right corner of the box. Lindsay slid the ball on to Stretch, who blasted it high into the net from 12 yards out.
Ashley Gunther's penalty kick just 24 seconds before the end of the first half made it 2-0. Bagwell again set the goal up when she was pulled down in the box.
Bagwell capped the scoring in the 66th minute. Whitney MacDonald set her up with a beatifully angled pass that split two defenders and hit Bagwell in stride. Bagwell took two touches and then chipped a shot over Hernandez and into the net.
With that goal, the 17th of her career, Bagwell moved into ninth place on Chico State's career goal scoring list. And with her assist earlier in the match, Bagwell became the 15th player in Chico State history to notch 10 career assists.
Kari Gonzales made a trio of saves to earn the shutout, the 28th of her career.
The Wildcats, unbeaten in their last six matches (5-0-1), host Sonoma State Sunday at 12:30. The Seawolves were the last team to beat Chico State, but the Seawolves later learned they had unknowlingly used and ineligible player.
