All good streaks must come to an end. The Chico State men's soccer team saw two go by the wayside Saturday night in a 2–1 loss to UC Santa Cruz in a non-conference match at University Soccer Stadium.
 
Chico State's six-match shutout streak ended in the 27^th minute. The Wildcats' six-match unbeaten streak came to an end at the final horn.
 
Unscored upon and unbeaten in California Collegiate athletic play, if there was a silver lining on the pitch for the 7-3-1 Wildcats, it was that their lone hiccup since Sept. 9 came in a non-conference affair.
 
The silver lining off of it came with the roughly 1,000 food items and $500 dollars donated this weekend to the Hungry Wildcats Food Pantry—dedicated to serving Chico State's food insecure students—during the women's and men's matches this weekend. The athletics department teamed up with Chico United FC in the successful effort.
 
Those who could not make it to University Soccer Stadium this weekend can still donate by texting "chicocares" to 71777 or visiting the webpage.
 
The Wildcats came out sluggish against the Banana Slugs and surrendered their first goal in 622 minutes and 23 seconds of play in the 27^th minute. Wildcats goalkeeper Damion Lewis made a spectacular save to deny Dominique Royal from right on top of the six-yard box. But Lewis couldn't corral the shot and trickled toward the far post where Royal ran onto it and drove it home.
 
Even that did not awaken the Wildcats completely. Though the run of play began to equalize, it was UC Santa Cruz who scored the next goal as well. Aidan Durgerian's quick cross set things up for the Banana Slugs, and after a weak attempted clearance near the far post, Keith McCarty one-timed a blast from the top of the 18-yard box inside through traffic and inside the right post.
 
The Wildcats were relentless in the second half, getting off 12 shots, three of which clanged off the woodwork and four that were saved by UC Santa Cruz keeper Andrew Pimentel.
 
Chico State finally broke through in the 67^th minute when Frankie Palmer worked his way down the right flank and delivered a strike to Jeremiah Egujie inside the right-hand side of the 18-yard box. The Wildcats' leading scorer took two composed touches and then beat Pimentel with a shot over his right shoulder the settled into the far-side netting.
 
Egujie hit the post in the 71^st minute and Eruvey Arceta hit the crossbar in the 80^th.
 
The Wildcats will be back in conference action next weekend when they host Cal Poly Pomona Friday at 4:30 and Cal State San Bernardino Sunday morning at 11:30.