Published 2007-10-23T00:00:00Z”/>

Ryan Klocke

Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams will play the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors on Friday in their final home games of the season, and the objectives for each squad are clear.

The women, who clinched their fourth consecutive playoff berth and second straight California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division Championship, will be playing to try to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the conference tournament.

This weekend the Wildcats proved they are worthy of donning the north division crown by taking it to a pair of nationally ranked teams on the road over the weekend. The Wildcats will play the Warriors, the No. 2 team in the north division, with the goal of breaking a stalemate in the standings with the UC San Diego Tritons, the south division’s top squad, to become the conference’s best team from the regular season.

The team has faltered at times, suffering through a three-game losing streak in conference. But the Wildcats have proven they are up to the form of successful teams from previous years. Friday’s matchup and their trip to the postseason should be exciting to take in.

The women’s game Friday will be followed by a match with a much more dismal goal.

The men’s team will take the field in an attempt to prevent tying the all-time school record in losses, which was set in 2002 when the men’s soccer team dropped 13 in a season.

Currently the ‘Cats are hemorrhaging losses. The team has lost four games in a row, its highest total since 2005, when the Wildcats dropped five straight on their way to a 5-12-2 finish. The 2002 team stopped its worst streak at four.

The second and fourth losses of the current skid came at the hands of the solid Sonoma State Seawolves and Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros, ranked No.11 and No.16 in the nation, respectively.

But the streak was started and sustained by dropping games to programs far below the Wildcats’ level. The ‘Cats fell to the weak teams Humboldt State Lumberjacks and UC San Diego Tritons, neither of which has gotten more than three conference wins this season.

Coming off a bad 2005 season, the Wildcats showed improvement in 2006, finishing 9-9-1 and showed the potential to become even stronger this season.

It’s sad to think this season could go down statistically as one of the worst ever.

Ryan can be reached at <a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>