The Chico State women’s soccer team delivered a scoring explosion early in the second half to knock off California State University, Dominguez Hills on Sunday with a score of 2-1.

Chico State’s Erin Woods creatively snuck in two goals for her team to stretch their home unbeaten streak to 19 games at University Stadium. This match featured physicality from Dominguez Hills which had a start we’ve been used to seeing from the Wildcats. The scoreless first half would drastically take a turn.

Coming off of their fourth draw this season, the Wildcats have become accustomed to playing restless, bruising matches. It was everything but an easy Sunday morning as intentional tugging and pulling took place all over the field.

The physicality imposed by the Dominguez Hills Toros was something Chico State expected, responding to the challenge with hustle.

“We always tell them Sunday is a day where we have to grind it out,” Assistant coach Jenny Jaggard said. “We had a long day on Friday with double overtime so it was just heart and grit and I think we have a lot of it.”

The first half consisted of much of the same play that was seen in the Wildcats scoreless draws this year. Cal State Dominguez Hills and Chico traded the time of possession and were evenly matched in the shot count.

Chico exited the first half with eight shots, only one more attempt than their opponent. Chico had a fair share of great looks with #30 Nadiah Martinez maneuvering through the midfield.

“The midfield really found a rhythm today,” Woods said. “We were all on the same page which hasn’t happened yet, so it just clicked.”

Only 13 minutes into play during the second half, #4 Erin Woods put one in the net for Chico when attempting a header. Woods initially missed the ball with her head, delivered by #11 Brielynn Tovani on a free kick, but her right foot coincidentally was in the perfect position to ricochet the ball into the goal.

“Normally I’m pretty dangerous in set pieces with my head, so coach has been frustrated I haven’t gotten there yet,” Woods said. “Honestly I just jumped at it, tried to get my foot on it and I made contact.”

Just six minutes after the first goal of the game, Woods scored after an assisted corner kick from #20 Jordan Doukakis, handing Woods her third goal of the weekend. From there the game looked easy for the Wildcats even battling through contact and a series of foul calls that did not go in Chico’s favor.

The Wildcats dominated possession of the ball after the second goal until a strike from Dominguez Hills’ Sofia Litendahl caused a scare to Chico’s defense all the way into the 82nd minute of the match. Holly Kaemerle delivered a beautifully placed back heel pass to setup the ten foot goal.

From then on things looked frantic for Chico as Dominguez Hills kept play around the net in the remaining minutes.

“That’s still apart of the game we need to work on,” Jaggard said. “It’s still early on in the season just learning how to manage the game, manage the clock, play it in the corners and just be smart with it.”

The backline for Chico held strong and escaped with the 2-1 victory. Chico State goalkeeper Vic Graham finished with only one goal allowed and eight saves. The Wildcats are ready for a four game road stand and will play their next game against Cal Stat Monterey Bay on Friday, Sept. 21 at 12:30 p.m.

Wesley Harris can be reached at [email protected] or @Flacko_Flame on Twitter.