The Chico State women’s soccer team faced off against the Cal State San Marcos Cougars for their senior day, taking a 1-0 loss after a scrappy 90 minutes.
Celebrating their seven seniors in a short ceremony before the game, the Wildcats snapped back into game mode as the whistle signaled the start of the match.
A majority of the first half was spent in the midfield as both teams constantly fought for possession of the ball. Neither team could figure out how to sneak past the other. Zero shots on goal were recorded in the first half, despite the Wildcats one corner kick and the Cougars four.
As the Wildcats kept applying defensive pressure, they picked up four productive fouls but were able to avoid any cards.
Sophomore defender Gaby Starr, who played the full 90 minutes, touched on the Wildcats defensive strategy that was working well in the first half.
“We did good on just being able to recover from our mistakes, we have to deal with them and then move on and we did a good job of channeling that energy,” Starr said. “We tried changing up our formation to find the most success and that really helped us out.”
After the first half, both teams came back out with a more aggressive approach, racing for the first score of the game.
It wasn’t till the 68th minute that San Marcos managed to send a ball just out of the reach of the Wildcats leaping freshman goalie Kennedy Briseño, taking the lead 1-0.
After the score, the Wildcats made a frantic effort to attack, pushing the ball down the field every chance they got. In the end, they couldn’t find a path to the goal and finished the game with no scores despite taking seven shots with three on goal.
“We could have connected and collected ourselves a bit more and not been antsy, we just panicked too much,” Briseño said. “Learning to play against hard teams and keeping our composure when we get fatigued will help us get our heat back.”
Senior defender Klayre Barres also played the full 90 minutes and made one shot attempt.
“When they are consistently down on our end it gets harder and harder, it comes down to one moment and one mistake and that’s what we need to be better on,” Barres said. “We had a lot of good moments though, we knew we could beat them in speed so we were focusing on that today and executed well at times.”
Despite the tough loss, it was still a day to celebrate and honor the Wildcats senior players.
“The seniors are some of my favorite people, they’re such hard workers and I call them my heroes every day,” Starr said. “Even though we didn’t win this one for them, we’ll get the next one, I’m just so glad to share the field with them.”
As a fifth year senior, Barres is also in the midst of her last season playing at Chico State.
“I’m proud that everyone battles every single day, not just in games but at practice too,” Barres said. “To be able to play my fifth year with all of these seniors is really a blessing.”
Now with a record of 3-4-2, the Wildcats next game is at Kellogg Stadium in Pomona, CA against the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos on Friday at 4:30 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.
Aiyana Curry can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
