TURLOCK—On the heels of three straight shutout wins at home, the Chico State men's soccer team took the show on the road Wednesday night, beating Stanislaus State 1-0 under the lights at Warrior Stadium in Turlock.
Substitutes Matt Hafizi and Samuel Licona combined on the lone goal of the match as the Wildcats won for the eighth time in their last nine matches, improving to 10-3-1, and moved into a tie for second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings at 7-2-0.
The Wildcats learned earlier in the day that they were ranked No. 7 in the inaugural NCAA West Regional rankings. On Monday, Nov. 5, that same committee will announce which of the region's six teams are selected for the NCAA Championship Tournament. Wednesday night's win helped in that respect as well.
Perhaps due to the start-and-stop nature of the match—35 fouls were whistled, including 24 on the hosts—the Wildcats struggled to get into an offensive rhythm.
The goal was the exception.
Samuel Licona registered his first assist a
Wildcat in the 1-0 win.
(Photo by Matthew Bates)
It came on a kind of slo-mo give-and-go. Justin Bethke played a pass up the right flank to Matt Hafizi to start the attack, and then Hafizi spun a beautiful ball on ahead to Samuel Licona around the defender, allowing Licona to win the race to it and take it to the end line.
The defender attempted to tackle the ball away, but Licona stayed upright, put the ball on his left boot, and hit a cross.
In the meantime, Hafizi had maneuvered his way to the top of the six-yard box between a pair of defenders.
With Licona's on-target service, Hafizi simply squared his body and headed the ball back toward the direction it came from and inside the post for his second goal of the season. The assist was Licona's first.
Chico State's defense did its usual strong work, allowing only 10 shots (just one above its season average).
Chico State goalkeeper Damion Lewis registered three saves on the night.
The win was Lewis' 10th of the season. The senior is the first Chico State netminder to register double-digit wins twice, and he's done so in back-to-back seasons. He's now fourth in school history with 28 career victories and the fourth to reach 20 career shutouts, joining Sam Evans (23), Tom Liner (22) and Tom Carter (20).
The Wildcats will wrap up their regular-season road schedule Sunday at San Francisco State before finishing the regular season with two home matches the following week.
