Chico State men’s soccer (10-2-3, 4-1-3 CCAA) capped off their afternoon senior day celebration with a victory against the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes (4-4-6, 2-3-3 CCAA) Sunday. Senior forward Miles Rice scored early in the first half and the Wildcat defense held strong to secure the 1-0 victory.
Before the game, the Wildcats celebrated their 10 seniors in the final conference home game of the season.
This group of seniors included; goalkeeper Emanuel Padilla, midfielders Benjamin Ralph and Cayden Hotaling, defenders Bryan Manriquez, Justin Ricketts, Preston Moll, Carson Zarate and Dawson White and forwards Miles Rice and Vas Syrengelas.
The Wildcats got straight to work, scoring in the third minute of the game off a Manriquez corner kick that was redirected by Zarate and fell perfectly into Rices’ path, finishing the play and scoring what would be game’s lone goal.
“I saw that Carson [Zarate] was going up for it and the flight of the ball was a little high, so I just hoped and predicted it was going to end up at the back post,” Rice said. “Luckily he skimmed it and it landed right on my foot and I was able to finish it.”
Both teams played each other very physically, resulting in a combined 27 fouls and two yellow cards against the Coyotes.
“I was just trying to keep my head and focus on not getting wrapped into it because I didn’t want to get a yellow card and then it put my team in a weird spot,” Rice said. “We just wanted to stay focused on our goal and not let what they were doing get in the way of that.”
In the 50th minute, the Coyotes forced a foul on the Wildcats in the box which led to the first penalty kick Chico State has faced this season.
Padilla made a huge blind dive to the left side of the goal, denying the Coyotes’ attempt at tying the game. Padilla secured four saves in the game, and his penalty kick save was his third save from that spot in his two years with the Wildcats.
The Wildcats’ defense finished the game strong, earning their fifth shutout of the season after holding off an unrelenting Coyote offense in the second half, despite San Bernardino outshooting Chico State 7-2.
With this win, the Wildcats now have the most wins of any CCAA program so far this season. Currently ranked third on the standings, the Wildcats will need to finish strong with three road games left of conference play for a chance at a CCAA Tournament berth.
“Hopefully we can take this win and just run with it, win the next three and see if we can win the conference or get a bid into the tournament and not look back,” Rice said.
The Wildcats’ next game will be against Cal State East Bay (4-7-3, 3-3-2 CCAA) in Hayward at the Pioneer Stadium on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
For information about all Chico State athletics or to keep up with the game live, visit the Wildcat home page, or watch through FloSports.
Trevor Lee can be reached at [email protected].
