The Chico State Wildcats men’s soccer team (9-2-3, 3-1-3 CCAA) took on Cal Poly Pomona Broncos (8-1-5, 3-0-4 CCAA) Friday in an end to end contest that led to a 2-2 draw, leaving the Wildcats with one point towards their California Collegiate Athletic Association standings.
Just 10 minutes into the first half, the Broncos would find themselves up 1-0 after capitalizing on a Wildcat turnover.
“Unfortunately we know how to respond to being down early. When we got scored on early it didn’t affect anything and we just kept playing our game.” Senior captain Preston Moll said.
Having been in this position before, the Wildcats began to employ their attacking identity into the match putting up multiple shots on target before Moll would whip in a cross from the left wing that found sophomore midfielder Syllas Sells on the back post tying the game at one goal a piece just before halftime.
“The first cross I sent was under-hit so I knew to put more air on the next, when you have guys like Syllas (Sells), Miles (Rice) and Thomas (Douglas) in the box I just have to put the ball in there and they score half the time.” Moll said.
Shortly into the second half, a Bronco player would be shown a red card, forcing Cal Poly to compete with 10 men for the remainder of the match. With only 30 minutes left in the match, Chico continued to put the pressure on the Broncos by sending crosses into dangerous positions.
The effort proved to be productive after sophomore midfielder Josh Moll put his boot on a loose ball, firing it into the back of the net and grabbing a one goal lead in the 71st minute. The celebrations would be cut short after freshman midfielder Aleksandar Somov found the back of the net for the final goal of the game in the 78th minute to tie the game 2-2.
“Not the result we wanted but now we have to win. If we want to still chase the CCAA title then we have to win on sunday.” Moll said. “We have a must win mentality”
Not the Ideal result for the Wildcats, but with Cal State San Bernardino coming into town Sunday at 2 p.m. at University Stadium for their final home game of the season, the Wildcats still have full control over the fate of their season.
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Nate Paddock can be reached at [email protected].
