Chico State women’s soccer took the field for the final time in their 2019 campaign and couldn’t have asked for a more intense match. From a late goal delivered with only three seconds to play, Cal State Monterey forced two overtime periods when the match seemed to be over with to finish in a 1-1 draw.

“As a freshman, I look up to my upperclassmen who have put their all into this season and past seasons, Chloe King said. “And we are working to make our future years better as a team.”

Chico State honored their two seniors Abbie Jones and Aiden Williams prior to the match as they finished their collegiate careers at University Stadium. The moment turned into match the seniors will never forget.

“Oh my gosh, It was an emotional rollercoaster,” Jones said. “This is partially what the public sees, is our game, but there is so much more that goes behind being a senior. The whole week, people were like, ‘this is your last everything,’ and you start to realize that. (I) just had so much support with my team, and going out on a game like that, double overtime right. It is very much of the Chico style to play a 110 minute game.”

Chico State’s offense was in full affect Saturday evening as they were able to put up an unbelievable 32 shots in the effort. They found the back of the net early in minute 15 thanks to Camille Lidster’s solo goal from 18 yards out delivered to the top left post.

They controlled possession through the majority of the evening with the shots count continuing to flow.

“The rush from that one goal and it’s senior night,” Chloe King said. “We were pumped up a lot and had a lot of adrenaline going. We just wanted to end our season with a win, so we kept pounding them with shots.”

The second half for the Wildcats featured another showing of solid play. With the speedy Susana Garcia making great runs down the right sideline, the Wildcats were provided with more scoring opportunities than they could ask for but could not find an angle to reach the back of the net.

The scoring struggles eventually came back to bite Chico all the way in the final seconds of the half. With the team and crowd ready to go home with a W, Monterey’s Jasmine Safarians found a lane down the left sideline for her teammate to deliver an easy pass for the goal with only three seconds remaining.

The match went into two overtime periods with Chico continuing to outshoot them. As time dwindled down, the game would not find a winner.

With leaving everything out on the field in a nearly two hour match, Jones walked away triumphantly playing one of her best games as a Wildcat posting six shots. After finishing her last match, she will never forget the lessons and memories she made being apart of the Chico State soccer program.

“I have an amazing team,”Jones said. “It makes me emotional thinking about them. They are my second family. Just the amount that you can do for other people, and the amount that you can do for people off the field.”

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