SAN BERNARDINO – Cal State San Bernardino's men's soccer team entered Sunday's home match ranked No. 25 in NCAA Div. II and in a tie for first place in the CCAA conference but were dealt a 1-0 defeat by Chico State, ranked No. 3.
The Wildcats' Carson Zarate scored his second goal of the season in the 74
th minute of the 90-minute contest at Premier Field assisted by Adrian Fontanelli, who picked up his team-leading sixth save of the season.
The Yotes had a big chance to earn the equalizer in the 85
th minute when a foul by Chico State's Noah Ross put
Victor Chavez on the line for a penalty kick. His try was saved by Wildcats' goalkeeper Emanuel Padilla, one of his four saves on the match.
The win improved Chico State to 9-0-2 overall and 2-0-2 in the CCAA which is only good for fourth place after today's matches with eight points. The Yotes lost their first conference match and are now 5-2-3 overall and 2-1-2 in the CCAA.
The Wildcats victory improved their all-time record against the Yotes to 15-10-3 since their first meeting in 1998.
Elsewhere, another CCAA unbeaten, No. 9 ranked Cal Poly Pomona smoked Stanislaus State 8-0 to move atop the standings at 3-0-1, good for 10 points. Cal State Monterey Bay, ranked No. 15, and Cal State L.A., ranked No. 19, are tied for second place with nine points with 3-1 conference records.
Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State San Marcos are tied for fifth spot with seven points.
Both the Yotes and the Wildcats played aggressively with referees calling 25 fouls in the match, 14 by Chico State and issuing five yellow cards, three to the Yotes.
CSUSB outshot the Wildcats 13-8. Four of the Yotes goals were on goal and saved by Padilla, who not only has 39 saves in 11 matches but ranks No. 1 in the CCAA in goals against average, yielding just 4 goals in over 950 minutes in the net.
Yotes keeper
Aiden Hanes stopped two of the three shots on goal by Chico State.
After a scoreless first half, the Yotes had shots by
Travis Babineau in the 47
th minute and Chavez in the 58
th minute. The latter shot was saved by Padilla.
Adrian Aguilar and
Brian Castillo miss their mark on either side of the goal.
Later in the second half another try by the Yotes to pull even came in the 88
th minute on a try by
Paul Iniguez of the Yotes. His shot was blocked by a defender.
UP NEXT: The Yotes host Cal State Dominguez Hills (3-4-3 overall, 0-3-1 in CCAA) at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12 before going on the road to face Cal State L.A. (8-1-1, 3-1 CCAA) on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. The matches will be live streamed on the CCAA network.
