Esten Schroeder took Sasha Peranteau's pass just inside the midfield stripe with one thing in mind. Attack! The Chico State midfielder split two defenders and took aim at the top of the 18-yard box. But he was surrounded upon arrival—one defender to each side, one behind him, and one dead ahead. But Schroeder still had the element of surprise. And he used it to take one touch that doomed them all.
 
Suddenly, Schroeder slipped the ball into space to his left between the back-peddling defender dead ahead and the one in chase mode on his left. He turned on a dime and flew by them both. The touch drew the goalkeeper off his line, but Schroeder beat him to the ball, stretching to flick a left-footed shot through the sliding keeper's legs, toward the far post.
 
All the while, Donta'e Garcia was on a dead sprint from the opposite wing toward the mouth of the goal, anticipating an opportunity. It came with Schroeder's shot. Garcia was racing by his defender when Schroeder took the shot and cut inside of him before sliding and sticking his right foot out to direct the ball safely into the open net, sending the Chico State men's soccer team to a crucial 2–1 overtime victory over Cal State San Bernardino Sunday at University Soccer Stadium.
 
Garcia's goal—his first of the season and the second of his career—came exactly one minute into sudden victory overtime and was the Wildcats' third golden goal of the season.

 
Justin Bethke's goal in the 66^th minute, assisted by Juan Perez and Ryan Caro, drew the Wildcats even.
 
Chico State is now 8-4-1 overall and 6-1-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with four to play. With 19 points, Wildcats are in fourth place in the CCAA standings, but control their own destiny in the race for the conference crown with at least one game in hand on two teams above them and a head-to-head match with the other, Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
The Toros, who host the Wildcats on the second-to-last match day of the season, have 21 points. Cal Poly Pomona currently sits on top with 24 points, but has just two matches remaining. UC San Diego is third with 20 points and has three left to play.
 
Wins are worth three points and ties worth one.
 
The top six teams in the final CCAA standings will advance to the CCAA Tournament. The top two earn a bye into the semifinals.
 
The Wildcats trailed 1–0 at the half Sunday despite a number of prime scoring opportunities.
 
Frankie Palmer hit the post in the 12^th minute and Jeremiah Egujie's follow flew just wide. And after the Coyotes opened the scoring on Mark Omari's 40^th-minute strike, Ronan McEnroe's header off an Eruvey Arceta was saved off the line at the far post by Coyotes defender Tony di Donato.
 
Egujie's promising blast toward the near post was saved in the 56^th minute, but he pounded on the rebound and played a ball to the far post that Fabian Roman nearly put in the back of the net, but instead sent it up and over the goal.
 
They finally got the equalizer 10 minutes later. Arceta drew a foul near the sideline just past the Wildcats' bench to set things up. Roman hit his free kick to the PK spot where it was headed by a Coyotes' defender high into the air. Freshman Juan Perez won the 50-50 ball at the top of the 18-yard box and headed it back toward the spot. It bounced one before falling to Ryan Caro, who with his back turned to the goal, touched it gently to Bethke, who was facing the net. He one-timed a left-footed shot into the netting inside the right post for his second goal of the season.
 
The Wildcats finished with a 17–11 edge in shots and 8-3 advantage in corner kicks. They'll wrap up the regular-season portion of their home schedule next weekend. Cal State East Bay will visit Friday night and Cal State Monterey Bay will be in town for Senior Day on Sunday.