The Chico State women's soccer team did not allow a single shot on goal or corner kick all night. That's a good recipe for a match the Wildcats felt like they had to win. That left them needing only one moment of magic, which Piper Matson delivered for a 1-0 victory against Cal State Dominguez Hills in their penultimate regular-season home match of 2022.
 
With two games to go, the Wildcats are tied with Stanislaus State for second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings with 17 points, just two behind conference leader Sonoma State. However, the Wildcats are also only two points ahead of sixth-place Cal State San Marcos. The top six teams in the final regular-season standings will advance to the CCAA Tournament. The top two teams will earn a bye into the CCAA Tournament semifinals, seeds No. 3 and 4 will host a first-round CCAA Tournament match on Sunday, October 30, and seeds No. 5 and 6 will be on the road that day.
 
In other words, Chico State has two more crucial regular-season matches ahead. The Wildcats host Cal State Monterey Bay Sunday at 2 p.m. in their regular season home finale. Prior to the match, the team's six seniors will be honored—Susanna Garcia, Mackenzie Gill, Taylor Russell, Alexi Vontsolos, Hunter Casperson, and Kelli Litchfield.
 
That group has helped lead Chico State to an overall record of 8-3-4, the No. 7 ranking in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll, and a 5-2-2 mark in conference play.  The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season at Cal Poly Humboldt next Thursday.
 
But first, the Wildcats needed a win against the visiting Toros, who entered the match in 11^th place in the conference standings but were coming off their most successful stretch of soccer this season, having gone unbeaten in three of their last four.
 
Chico State did not let them get their offense started in logging its sixth shutout in the past eight matches. The Toros did not even manage a first-half shot before getting off three in the second stanza.

By that time, the Wildcats were already in the lead. They grabbed that 1-0 edge in the 31^st minute. A free kick by Taylor Russell from near midfield set things in motion. Her ball carried to the top opposite corner of the 6-yard box where Garcia and a defender collided. The ball fell to the feet of Kylie Rolling, whose quick shot from a tough angle was blocked by the goalkeeper, but right out into the mouth of the goal. Matson was wanting and pounced on the seconds, scoring into the open net.
 
Those were two of 22 shots taken by the Wildcats Friday, 12 of which were on goal. Garcia got particularly unlucky, hitting the post once, the crossbar on another occasion, and having another ball saved off the line by a defender. Thus, she's still one goal shy of the 20^th of her career and becoming the 10^th player in program history with 50 career points.
 
Senior Day would certainly be a nice time to reach that milestone.