Box Score The Chico State men’s soccer team’s lone goal was gorgeous. But the celebration was short-lived. Just 1:44 after Akwafei Ajeakwa tied the match 1-1, 11th-ranked Seattle Pacific re-took the lead and never looked back in beating the 23rd-ranked Wildcats 3-1 at University Soccer Stadium.
Chico State, which clearly suffered from a lack of experience at the NCAA level, fell to 1-1. Seattle Pacific is 2-0 behind a high-powered offense that’s scored seven times in two matches.
The visiting Falcons grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Christopher Morris got behind the defense and rifled a shot off of Wildcats’ goalkeeper Sam Evans who was charging out to take away the angle. The ball ricocheted off of Evans’ chest and hands and toward the mouth of the goal where Elliot Morton ran onto it and pounded it home for his first goal of the season.
The Wildcats got the equalizer in the 37th minute on a perfectly executed counter attack. Luis Martinez made the threat viable with a well-placed ball over the top of three defenders to the feet of Kramer Runager. He played the second great ball of the sequence to Ajeakwa, who was flying down the right seam. Ajeakwa turned on the jets to beat Falcons goalkeeper Zach Johnson to the ball, deftly heading it down and around Johnson before rolling it home into the open net.
The jubilation didn’t last long, though. The Wildcats were whistled for their ninth foul of at the top of the box moments later. The problem
was compounded when they allowed Danny Olivas to hit what looked like a simple shot around the edge of the wall and inside the near post to give Seattle Pacific the lead for good.
The Falcons capitalized on another Chico State mistake in the back third in the 52nd minutes to stretch the lead to 3-1. Evans twice yelled for freshman defender Sean Gallagher (pressed into duty after two Chico State defenders were knocked from the match) to head SPU’s Anthony Mohammed’s bouncing pass back to him. But once Gallagher did, Seattle Pacific’s Blaine Carver cut in a one-timed a shot past a pulled out Evans from 15 yards.
After trailing 9-5 in shots early in the second half, the Wildcats finished with a 13-11 edge. But only three were on target. Seattle Pacific, on the other hand, put seven shots on goal. One of those shots – a header by Kodiac Gamble in the 44th minute – was saved off the line by Martinez. Chico State enjoyed a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.
The Wildcats are back at home next Friday and Sunday when they open California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play against 8th-ranked Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills, respectively.
