Published 2005-10-22T00:00:00Z”/>

Kirk Barron<br>Assistant Sports Editor

Kirk BarronAssistant Sports Editor

It took the Chico State women’s soccer team more than 73 minutes and 27 shots to score, but the goal was enough as the Wildcats posted their ninth shutout of the year 1-0.

The Wildcats (13-3-2, 8-2-2 CCAA) couldn’t get past Cal State Monterey Bay goalie Valentina Valdez for most of the game. Valdez made 8 saves and was under fire the whole game as the Wildcats fired off 31 shots. The Otters mustered just three.

The Wildcats may have underestimated the Otters (1-14-1, 0-11-1 CCAA) and began the game playing poorly, said Chico State coach Kim Sutton.

“Once we started playing well in the second half, it was like there was a magic wall in front of the goal,” Sutton said.

Kari Pierce scored a goal with 7:12 remaining in the first half, but it was negated because two Chico State players were offside.

Chico State’s lone goal came in the 73rd minute as Courtney Quan headed a pass from Premila Carleson off the crossbar and a Monterey Bay player’s knee into the goal.

“I flicked it backwards and by the time I turned around it was in the goal,” Quan said. “I didn’t really know it was me until the came running at me.”

Moments later, the Otters came within a walrus’s whisker of scoring but Chico State goalie Kari Gonzales was able to dive on the ball to preserve the shutout.

Quan had seven shots in the game and put constant pressure on the Otters defense.

Ashley Gunther fired off four shots in the game and used her speed to open up the Otters defense.

Gunther took the brunt of several hard tackles by Otter players, but jumped up quickly after every one.

The previous three games had been rough on the Wildcats, as they went 0-1-2 over that stretch. Playing the bottom-feeding Otters didn’t provide any rest for the Wildcats.

Premila Carleson and Lexi Sheridan-Coons started the game bandaged and, just minutes into the game, Abby Stretch went down hard and left the game.

During a span of a few minutes in the second half, three Chico State players were body checked; none were called fouls. One of the hits gave Anjie Goulding a gusher of a bloody nose that sidelined her for the rest of the game.

Katherine Bagwell took a boot to the butt minutes later from Monterey Bay player Cassidy Bennett while she was on the ground. No foul was called.

The Wildcats play San Francisco State (5-10-0, 3-8-0) Sunday in Chico at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats close out the regular season Oct. 29 at Sonoma State. The California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament begins Nov. 4.

Kirk Barron can be reached at:

<a href= “[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>