Five phenomenal seniors. Two gorgeous goals. One heck of a team. Zero chance of missing the postseason.
Chris Akwaja and Ferid Celosmanovic jammed home jaw-dropping second-half goals as the Chico State men’s soccer team came from behind to beat Cal State Stanislaus 2-1 and clinch the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) North Division crown on a spectacular Senior Day at University Soccer Stadium Wednesday. The Wildcats, ranked No. 13 in the nation and No. 2 in the West Region needed only a tie to clinch the title. But they sent seniors Ryan Nevarez, Ross Judge, Zach Bradford, Leo Zarate, and Josh Johnson out in style with a special win instead.
The Wildcats improved to 13-4-0 overall and 11-4-0 in the CCAA with only Saturday night’s rematch with Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock remaining on their regular-season schedule. They’ll open four-team CCAA Championship Tournament Friday, Nov. 5, as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. The Wildcats currently hold a two-point advantage on South Division leader Cal State San Bernardino in the hunt for that top seed. But the Coyotes still have two games remaining on their schedule – showdowns at Cal State L.A. Friday and Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday.
Chico State will earn the top seed if:
- It wins Saturday and Cal State San Bernardino loses or ties one of its last two games
- It ties Saturday and Cal State San Bernardino loses or ties its final two games.
- It loses Saturday and Cal State San Bernardino earns no more than one tie in its final two contests.
Andres Zamora staked Cal State Stanislaus (ranked No. 6 in the West) to a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute when he got his head on a 50-50 ball in the box. Chico State's Nick Tedrow got his head on it in front of the goal, but it bounced off the top of the crossbar and landed inside the goal line.
Akwaja scored the equalizer in the 65th minute for his fifth goal in the last four matches and ninth of the season. He received a diagonal pass from Tyson Crim during a run toward the far post, split a pair of defenders, took one touch with his left foot, and then hit a gorgeous, fluttering ball over the attacking goalkeeper and into the far upper-V to tie the match. The assist was Crim’s team-high sixth of the season.
Celosmanovic scored the game winner - his CCAA-leading 12th of the season - in the 75th minute. Akwaja sent him down the right flank with a nice feed and then Celosmanovic created some distance from his defender with a pump-fake shot. He took two more touches and cracked a low liner past the diving goalkeeper and just inside the far post.
The native of Brcko, Bosnia’s 12 goals match recent Major League Soccer Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski for the most by a Wildcat since 1999. He needs one more to move into Chico State’s top 10 single-season goal scorers list.
The goal set off a wild celebration down the entire sideline and gave the Wildcats their 11th conference victory, tying the team’s highest total since joining the CCAA in 1998.
The Wildcats finished with a 15-9 advantage in shots and 5-3 edge in shots on goal. Wildcats goalkeeper Sam Evans made a pair of saves and played the Warriors’ eight corner kicks quite well. His counterpart, Cal State Stanislaus’ Bill Hambelton, collected a trio of saves.
The loss was a painful one for the visiting Warriors, but perhaps not even their most painful one of the day. Earlier Wednesday a protest filed by Cal State East Bay following its Oct. 15 match against Cal State Stanislaus was granted, stripping the Warriors of what had been recorded as a win and leaving them with a tie.
The match between the two teams ended in a 1-0 double overtime victory for Cal State Stanislaus. Following a review by the rules committee, however, the winning goal was deemed to have scored after time expired. Thus, the Warriors went from being in strong position to earn a CCAA Championship Tournament berth earlier in the day to being in dire straights following Wednesday night’s loss.
The Warriors will now need a victory Saturday and a lot of help from around the conference to get in to the playoffs.
But don’t expect the Wildcats to make it easy on the Warriors despite having the North Division crown wrapped up. The CCAA Championship Tournament’s top seed is not the only thing at stake this weekend. Chico State is also fighting for an NCAA Championship berth. The Wildcats are currently ranked second in the poll that will eventually determine which four teams represent the West Region in the NCAA Championship Tournament. Cal State San Bernardino is No. 1, Grand Canyon is No. 3, Notre Dame de Namur and Sonoma State are tied for No. 4, and Cal State Stanislaus is No. 6.
BOX SCORE
