SAN RAMON, Calif. — The CCAA Game of the Week will be Friday's matchup when San Francisco State visits Chico State at 4:30 p.m.
With an overall mark of 5-0-0, SF State has matched the best start in the program's 75-year history. Through the first five matches this season, the Gators have outscored opponents 19-5 and outshot them 82-60. Friday's showdown in Chico will be the Gators' CCAA opener and SF State is the only conference team remaining with an undefeated overall record.
"We're excited to start CCAA action this weekend. The guys have been training pretty hard and keep improving game after game," said SF State Head Coach
Javier Ayala-Hil. "We hope that we can carry that momentum into league play. We'll face some adversity but so far we've found ways to keep pushing through."
After scoring four goals in 2016, SF State senior
Ranier Plantinos has already logged a career-high seven goals, including a hat trick in a 4-3 victory over Holy Names on Sept. 8. Sophomore
Richard Leon, who was the CCAA Freshman of the Year in 2016 with seven goals, has already found the back of the net four times and dished out a pair of assists. In all, eight different Gators have already recorded a goal this season.
The Gators have appeared in all three weeks of the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II men's soccer West Region poll, having debuted at number seven. The Gators moved to sixth in week two but with no matches last week, slipped back to seventh in week three.
Friday's opponent, Chico State, has produced a 4-0 away record this season but suffered losses in two home games in early September. Junior Jeremiah Egujie of Benin, Nigeria, owns six goals this season and three of those scores came in Sunday's 3-0 victory over Cal State San Marcos.
Live stats and video will be provided by the Wildcats. In-game scoring updates will be available on Twitter at @sfstate_msoc. View all of this week's CCAA scores at
goccaa.org/scoreboard.