The Chico State women’s soccer team played a closely contested game Sunday against the Colorado School of Mines that was a nail-biter to the very end. Despite their best efforts, the Wildcats ultimately fell just short, losing 2-1.
The game, which was held at the University Stadium, saw both teams give their best effort, playing great defense throughout the match.
The Wildcats took the early lead in the 15th minute, as senior midfielder Brynn Howard scored a beautiful header off of a corner kick, putting them up 1-0.
“We work on set pieces a lot at practice. It was a thing going into this game that was one of our goals,” Howard continued. “Like can we score off the set piece today? Can we be the team that’s hard to defend on set pieces? So I think that just gave everybody confidence.”
The Wildcats continued to showcase their strong defensive efforts in the first half but faced some adversity in the closing seconds. The Orediggers responded just before time expired with a set piece goal of their own to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the half.
Senior goalkeeper Emma Hofmann played a terrific game, finishing the game with seven saves despite the relentless offensive attack of the Orediggers.
“It was unfortunate that we got scored on late in that first half, but we took the halftime to settle down and have a plan going into the second half and I thought we did that well,” Hofmann said.
In the second half, the Wildcats continued to showcase their resilience and effort despite a strong Orediggers defense. They had several close opportunities to retake the lead but were unable to convert against the Orediggers.
In the 78th minute, the Orediggers were able to get through the Wildcat defense and score to go up 2-1 with little time left in the game. The Wildcats fought hard to score before time expired but the opposing defense held firm.
“I think we can learn a lot from this game. They are a very good team and so are the conference teams that we are going to see,” Howard said. “Just taking it game by game and learning from our mistakes and improving on things that we can.”
The Wildcats will look to bounce back from this loss when they begin their three-game stretch of away games. Their next game will be on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. against Central Washington University.
The next home game will be Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. against Biola University at the University Soccer Stadium. Students can watch the game for free by showing their Wildcat ID card.
For the latest information on the Chico State women’s soccer team follow their Instagram, or visit the Wildcats home page.
Trevor Lee can be reached at [email protected].
To read the article in Spanish, go here.
