The Chico State women's soccer team is a sophomore-heavy group, just experienced enough to be dangerous, but still young enough to make Head Coach Kim Sutton question her career choices. But after Friday afternoon's 3-1 win at Sonoma State, the only question Sutton was asking was how long it had been since her team last won in Rohnert Park. The answer: nearly 11 years.
 
Mackenzie Gill scored two goals and Natalie Mendoza another as the Wildcats rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to win at Sonoma State for the first time since October 30, 2011. That win more than a decade ago clinched Chico State its sixth California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) North Division title in eight years.
 
Since that time, Sonoma State has become the team to beat in the north, having won three of the past six CCAA titles, including the past two. Favored to three-peat in this year's preseason coaches poll, the Seawolves entered Friday's match ranked No. 3 in the West Region and No. 22 in the nation.
 
But the Wildcats—picked to finish third in the CCAA and ranked No. 6 in the West entering the weekend—had different ideas. They collected their biggest road win in a number of years in the CCAA opener for both teams, improving to 4-1-2 overall and 1-0-0 in the CCAA. Sonoma State slipped to 4-2-1 and 0-1-0.
 
The Wildcats' youth showed up early as they allowed a Seawolves goal in transition just six minutes into the match. They left one player unmarked down the left flank, another unmarked at the top of the box, and yet another alone at the far post for the go-ahead header.
 
Thankfully, the team's strengths emerged just as quickly. Gill out-fought two defenders for a loose ball at the top of the 18 following a failed clearance. She spun and ripped a left-footed blast inside the right post to knot the score at 1 apiece, where it remained until the half.
 
Once the second half started, it did not stay that way for long. The Wildcats took the lead on a spectacular team goal, finished (and helped along the way) by Mendoza. Taylor Russell won a 50/50 ball and played it ahead to Brynn Howard. She moved it ahead to Mendoza who, with her back to the goal, used the right side of her right boot to play Piper Matson into space. Matson then moved the ball ahead to Gill, who replicated Mendoza's move to put Matson in behind the defense in the box. With three defenders in hot pursuit and a tough angle to work with, Matson chipped a pass to the PK spot that bounced once and fell to the right foot of Mendoza, who deftly chipped the ball over the keeper and into the top shelf for a 2-1 edge just 31 seconds into the second half.
 
Ten minutes later, the Wildcats doubled their lead and wrapped up the scoring. Susanna Garcia set things in motion by winning a goal kick near midfield and then playing a long pass into space along the right flank for Gill to run onto. Gill played herself into the box with her first touch, and when she got to the ball, she put her defender in the spin cycle, eventually crossing over with a dribble before unleashing a missile from just off the PK spot into the far-side netting for her first collegiate brace.
 
While the Seawolves have mostly had their way with teams from the north, that hasn't necessarily been the case against the Wildcats, who have now won three of the past four meetings between the teams and evened the score series at 7-7-3 over the last 17.
 
This marked the first of 11 conference matches in 35 days for the Wildcats. They play at San Francisco State Sunday at 2.
 
Links to live stats and a live broadcast on the CCAA Network 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.
 
San Francisco State, which hosts Cal Poly Humboldt Friday, enters the weekend with a record of 2-4-1. The Gators were picked to finish seventh in the CCAA preseason coaches poll.