Things are escalating quickly for the Chico State men's soccer team. Not only do the Wildcats open California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play Friday, but they do so on the road against their fiercest rival, Sonoma State. That match kicks off at 3 p.m. Chico State, which finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a record of 3-2-2, will then play at San Francisco State Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
 
Live stats are available for both matches, which will be broadcast on the CCAA Network. Links can be found at www.chicowildcats.com in the calendar section on the homepage and on the women's soccer schedule page. Access to the live video stream requires a subscription fee that grants users access to every CCAA event, home and away, on the network.
 
Chico State is ranked No. 8 in the West Region, while Sonoma State (also 3-2-2) is ranked No. 9. The teams played a similar non-conference slate to arrive at this point in the season with identical records. They each opened the season on the road at Seattle Pacific and Western Washington, each hosted Saint Martin's and Simon Fraser, and each faced Dominican.
 
But all those matches are now in the rearview mirror with this skirmish looming. This will mark the 67^th meeting between these teams. Sonoma State leads the all-time series 33-27-6, but the Wildcats are 3-1-1 in the last five matchups. Each of those ended in a scoreless draw or 1-0 result. This will mark their first meeting in Rohnert Park since 2017, where the Wildcats are 2-2-1 since the start of 2011, That last meeting finished in a scoreless draw. '
 
The Wildcats' history with San Francisco State dates back even further, to 1963. Chico State leads the all-time series 67-20-9 and is 21-4-4 against the Gators since the start of the 2001 campaign. Liam Duerksen notched two assists in last season's 2-1 win in Chico and Noah Ross assisted on a goal in the Wildcats' 2-1 at San Francisco State in 2019.