Chico State’s home record comes to an unfortunate end at 26 consecutive matches won at University Soccer Stadium. The match winning goal would come well into the second half for Cal Poly Pomona and was the lone score of the match.

Cal Poly’s Taylor Scott scored the match winning goal for the Broncos. In a strong defensive battle, the Broncos outmatched the Wildcats with 11 shots to 9.

It was a battle between the defensive lines for the squads Friday night. Both teams frustrated each other near the 18 yard box with neither finding open looks through the game. Goalkeeper Victoria Graham, as the leader of the defense, snagged three saves on the evening.

“We were pretty strong throughout the back,” Graham said. “We covered their marks really well. Considering they had a lot of marks coming up front and runs, I think we defended it really well in the box.”

Coming off of scoring a total of 6 goals in their past 2 wins, Chico’s offense was surprisingly out of sync Friday night. The ball was not snapping around the field, as we have been accustomed to seeing out of the Wildcats this season.

“Our transitioning could have been stronger, but there were a lot of things we could have done differently to come out with a different outcome,” Graham said.

The first goal was delivered by the Broncos 68 minutes into the game for the Broncos. Off a run made down the right sideline, Allyssa Larkin found Scott on the right shoulder for the shot. Graham made an athletic play to get a hand on the ball but took a bad bounce that didn’t end in the Wildcats favor.

“It’s definitely a stressful time, but all these games that we have in the conference are going to be stressful with points because we’re all good,” Graham said. “It definitely does put a lot of pressure on us (defensive line), but at the same time, we’d be putting pressure on the other team as well.”

After the goal made well into the match, Chico’s offense finally found a bit of a groove forcing a variety of corner kicks and shot attempts. The late push wasn’t enough to force the match tying goal.

The Wildcats hope to start a new home game winning streak Sunday against California State University, San Bernardino. With the bar being set high at a record 26 games, it will be a difficult mark to reach again.

Wesley Harris can be reached at [email protected] @jiggy_wes on twitter.