CHICO — It’s very early, but through three conference matches, no team in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) can boast more points than the Chico State men’s soccer team’s seven following the Wildcats’ 2-0 victory against Cal State Stanislaus Wednesday night at University Soccer Stadium.

Josh Johnson and Chris Akwaja scored second-half goals, and Michael Keohane and the defense notched their fourth shutout of the season to key the win. The Wildcats are now 5-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in the CCAA. They’ll conclude a string of three home matches in five days by hosting Cal State East Bay Friday at 7 PM and UC San Diego Sunday at 2 PM.

Cal State Stanislaus fell to 4-2-0 overall and 1-2-0 in the CCAA.

The teams combined for only 10 shots in the first half, only two of which were on goal. But the Wildcats began to figure some things out in the second half. On one of their five corner kicks after intermission, Evan Armstrong, the player who took the corner, got the ball back and produced some magic. He lifted a pass to the edge of the box where Tyson Crim shielded his defender beautifully, spun toward the mouth of the goal, and rolled a cross to Johnson, who squirted it home between the ground and the outstretched arms of Warriors goalkeeper Steven Waite to make it 1-0 Chico State in the 65th minute.

Akwaja put the match away with the Wildcats’ second goal 15 minutes later. Akwaja and true freshman Josh Borja worked together to work the ball up the field before Akwaja and Johnson connected with some nifty passing to put the Warriors in major danger. A quick give-and-go left Akwaja with only Waite to beat, and he did so smoothly with a controlled low liner toward the near post for his first goal of the season.

Chico State, now 10-2-0 at University Soccer Stadium since Felipe Restrepo took over the head coaching reins a little more than a year ago, finished with a 12-7 advantage in shots and a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. 

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