CHICO – The Chico State men’s soccer team was back home Friday, and the Wildcats were back on track. Chris Akwaja, Kevin Gibson, and Luis Martinez each netted first half goals as the Wildcats throttled visiting CSU Monterey Bay 3-0 to bounce back from a rough road trip and remain unbeaten at University Soccer Stadium.
Chico State improved to 7-3-2 overall and 4-2-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). The Wildcats are 5-0-1 at home. It was a big night in terms of the CCAA standings for the Wildcats, who moved into the second and final “wildcard” spot for a CCAA Championship Tournament berth on a night in which they reached the midpoint of their conference schedule.
The winners of the North Division and South Division received automatic bids to the postseason tournament, where they’ll be joined by the two non-division winners with the most accumulated points. Following Friday night’s action, the Wildcats trail “wildcard leader” Cal State Dominguez Hills by two points but have one extra match remaining, and they lead Cal State San Bernardino by two points with one fewer match remaining.
CSU Monterey Bay fell to 1-7-2 overall and 1-4-2 in the CCAA.
Chico State goalkeeper Mike Keohane earned the win between the pipes – the 23rd of his career – but was never forced to make a save in his 73 minutes of work. True freshman James Stroud played the final 17 minutes, collecting a pair of saves. With the win, Keohane moved into a tie with Ed Meyer (1973-75) for sixth on Chico State’s career wins list. Tom Liner, who won 30 matches between 1988 and 1991, holds the record.
While Keohane was mostly watching the action on the other side of the field, and at most, directing traffic (CSU Monterey Bay managed only five shots all day, and only two while Keohane was in the match), the Wildcats’ offense was building threat after threat. First Kyle Crain knocked a header off the crossbar, and then Chris Akwaja missed an open corner of the net just wide.
They broke through in the 30th minute on Akwaja’s third goal of the season. True freshman Tyson Crim collected a pass from Luis Martinez with plenty of time to scan the field. He hit a low liner to Akwaja, who had posted up his defender at the top of the box. Once he controlled the pass, Akwaja spun and hit a rocket through Otters goalkeeper Brenden Baca’s hands and it rolled into the net. The assist was Crim’s second.
Crim lent a foot on the next goal as well, sending Nick Tedrow wide and creating a one-on-one opportunity. Tedrow beat his defender and rolled a pass to Gibson, whose mark was forced to leave him to deal with Tedrow. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Gibson knocked a low, hard shot into the back of the net to make it 2-0 in the 41st minute. The goal was Gibson’s third of the season and the fifth of his career.
Martinez put the match away a bit more than three minutes later on a restart. His shot from 18 yards bent through traffic and into the back of the net when Baca lost track of the ball as it flew around Gibson’s body just 1:25 before intermission. The goal was the second of the season for the freshman.
The Wildcats finished with a 15-5 advantage in shots, while CSU Monterey Bay enjoyed a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
The Wildcats host San Francisco State Sunday at 2 pm. CSU Monterey Bay travels to take on Cal State Stanislaus.
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