Box Score
CARSON -- Cal State L.A.'s women's soccer team saw its quest for a California Collegiate Athletic Association championship come up painfully short Sunday.
The Golden Eagles battled Chico State to a 0-0 tie through regulation and two overtime periods, but the Wildcats claimed the conference title on penalty kicks Sunday afternoon in the CCAA championship game at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Cal State L.A. (13-5-2) remains unbeaten in its last seven games because the official result of the game is a tie. Chico State (13-5-2) captured its first-ever conference title in women's soccer and claimed an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Cal State L.A. will now await the announcement of the remainder of the playoff field on Monday. Seattle Pacific received the automatic bid for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Four more teams will be awarded berths on Monday in the Far West Region.
The Golden Eagles played well enough to win on Sunday. Both teams were credited with 11 shots and two of Cal State L.A.'s shots clanked off posts. Chico State had the edge in corner kicks, 4-0. Reyna Coca made four saves for the Golden Eagles, while Chico State goalie Kari Gonzales made five saves for the Wildcats.
After the teams battled through the 90-minute regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, a shootout was held to determine the conference champion. Each team took five shots and Chico State prevailed, 2-1. Coca made a diving save to thwart one Chico State attempt and two other attempts sailed high. Cal State L.A.'s Erika Prado was the only Golden Eagle to successfully convert a penalty kick and that attempt tied it at 1-1.
After Chico State controlled play for the first 10 minutes, the Golden Eagles got the best scoring chance of the first half when Liz Franco drilled a shot from about 25 yards out that eluded a diving Gonzales, but struck the left goal post and bounced away. The Golden Eagles also got a good chance late in the half, but a shot by Prado after Christine Duff blocked a clearing attempt back toward the Chico State goal sailed over the net from a sharp angle.
Chico State started the second half strongly and Melissa Lindsay pounced on a loose ball after a failed Cal State L.A. clearing attempt and drilled a shot from about 22 yards out that sailed wide. Lindsay also broke clear in the Cal State L.A. end, but Jennifer Schafer made a quick recovery to stop the scoring attempt.
Lindsay then got another attempt a few minutes later, but Coca made a leaping save to keep the game scoreless.
Cal State L.A.'s Dana Menard then had the Golden Eagles' second golden opportunity in the 70th minute, but her shot bounced hard off the crossbar and sailed away.
The third big chance came in the 80th minute when a pressuring Khadijah Greenwood had a shot blocked and Franco hustled in to get the rebound. Her shot, though, went just over the crossbar from inside the box and the game remained scoreless.
Cal State L.A.'s Amber de Seriere had the best scoring attempt in the first half, sending a hard shot toward the left goalpost, but Gonzales made a diving save.
Schafer did a nice job breaking up a centering pass in the second overtime and Chico State's Tracee Sterry had a chance sail wide from inside the box about midway through the second OT. Chico State's Whitney MacDonald had the last real scoring chance to the game when she stole the ball and sent in a shot that Coca saved with less than two minutes remaining.
Menard had a game-high four shots for the Golden Eagles, while Prado had a pair.
After 110 minutes of championship-caliber soccer on Sunday, the Golden Eagles can now just wait and hope for good news on Monday.
