TURLOCK — The Warriors opened their three-game homestand Wednesday afternoon with a 1-0 loss against the rival Wildcats of Chico State.

The first half was uneventful, as both teams played to a 0-0 tie. The teams had just one shot on goal each through the first 45 minutes of play, with both goalkeepers earning a save. The amount of shots taken by both teams were almost even, as Chico State held a 7-5 advantage in shots over the Warriors going into halftime.

Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State played with a sense of urgency in the second half, as neither teams wanted to take a loss and fall deeper into the CCAA North Division cellar.

The stalemate was broken in the 64th minute by Chico State forward Ian Hilgart, who was able to put a pass from Mike Gardner past Warrior goalkeeper Mando Herrera for his first goal of the season. Hilgart shot the ball just 10 feet from the net. Herrera dove and got one hand on it, but was unable to completely deflect the ball, and it rolled just inside the post to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

Chico State would keep possession of the ball for a majority of the final 25 minutes. The Wildcat defense stepped up, controlling the game and holding the Warriors to less shots than they had in the first half. The Warriors did get several looks at the net, including two corner kicks with less than two minutes to go, but were not able to convert and send the game to overtime.

“Our expectations were high coming into the season, and it seems like we haven't been able to measure up,” said Warriors head coach Eric Mild. “Now we're searching to correct things very fast.

“We can't worry about winning the conference, we need to worry about winning the next couple of games. We've been finding different ways to lose the last couple of weeks and we need to pull ourselves out of that.”

The loss drops Cal State Stanislaus' record to 2-6-3 overall and 1-4-2 in the CCAA. Chico State improved their record to 6-7 overall and 3-4 in the CCAA. The Warriors will face CCAA South Division-leading Cal State L.A. at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in a rematch of last season's CCAA Championship Tournament semifinal.

Chico State 1, Cal State Stanislaus 0

    1    2    Total
Chico State    0    1    1
Cal State Stanislaus    0    0    0

Scoring Summary:
CSUC—Ian Hilgart (Mike Gardner), 63:03

Shots: CSUC 16, CSUS 9; Shots-on-Goal: CSUC 7, CSUS 2; Saves: CSUC 2 (Linne), CSUS 6 (Herrera); Fouls: CSUC 17, CSUS 12. Attendance: 53.