TURLOCK — The Stanislaus State women's soccer team once again defended home pitch as the Warriors beat Chico State, 2-0, on a rainy evening at Warrior Stadium.
Goals by
Kirsten Coleman and
Rayana Plancarte propelled the Warriors to their second consecutive home victory as they improved to 9-5-0 overall and 3-5-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association to remain in the race for one of the tournament berths.
However, the team isn't looking that far ahead. Setting the mentality of a short six-match 'second season,' the Warriors posted two wins with four regular season matches remaining. Friday night's match also capped a four-match-in-eight-day stretch before taking the rest of the weekend off the competition field.
Defensively, the Warriors shut-down an agressive — and rested — Chico State (6-7-1, 2-7-0 CCAA) team as goalkeeper
Haley Crook came up with a clean sheet with the four-save shutout. Chico's last match prior to Friday night was Oct. 9 ending a four-match homestand.
"(
Haley Crook) and the entire back line and holding mids had a fantastic match. They shut down some very talented individual attackers," said head coach
Gabriel Bolton. "I'm extremely proud of that effort tonight. We left everything on the field and it really paid off."
On offense, Coleman stay hot with another goal on home field, this time a strong strike from 20 yards out after a tremendous run by
Mikayla Clifford. Clifford took the Crook toss in front of the home bench, sprinted down the field with the ball passing up four defenders and sent a perfect cross to the far side to find Coleman. Coleman knocked in her sixth goal of the year in the 26th minute to make it 1-0. All six of her goals have occured on home field.
In the 57th minute, after collecting a throw-in,
Gabby Squarcia turned and passed to Plancarte. The freshman took a long shot as the wet ball skidded through the hands of Chico net-minder Caitlyn Duval to make it 2-0.
The Warriors will have two more regular season home matches next week when they host UC San Diego (Friday) and Cal State San Marcos (Sunday) before ending the six-match second-season on the road.
