The Chico State men’s soccer team advanced to its third win of the season on Sunday after sophomore midfielder Dane Peterson scored the Wildcats’ only goal, and the defense held it down to 1-0 against Cal State San Marcos.
Cougar defender Brando Oros nearly scored twice. The first attempt was blocked while the second bounced off the crossbar. A timeout was called to review the play, but it was confirmed no goal.
The Wildcats scored in the 20th minute, when Peterson knocked the ball in the left side of the net from a corner kick assisted by Jack Shane.
“It was gritty, we scored a couple little ways in, and the rest of the game was just a dog fight,” Peterson said. “You could see we were all going out there into tackles and each individual person won their battles.”
It was an intense start of the second half of the game. Both sides played physically with plenty of contact and fouls being called.
In the last 22 minutes, Cal State San Marcos attempted four shots on goal, with Wildcat goalkeeper Weston Joyner making all the saves.
“You kind of have to be as big as you can to make the save,” Joyner said. “When one gets deflected, you’re just like, try to get any body part on it and make the save.”
Junior defender Darius Dukes nearly scored a second goal for Chico State but instead the kick missed high over the crossbar.
San Marcos made many efforts to scramble down the field to equalize the score. Joyner made a leaping catch among the crowd of players during a corner kick. Joyner took a hit from Cougar midfielder Cisco Avila as he caught the ball, but they both got up and carried on in the game.
In the final minute of the game, Peterson battled two Cougar defenders over the ball in the corner of the field, leaving little time for San Marcos to retaliate.
The Wildcats overall record stands at 3-3-2. The team will travel to Cal Poly Pomona for their next game on Friday 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.
Malisse Busby can be reached at [email protected]. or [email protected].
