SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State women's soccer team dropped a crucial CCAA matchup, 3-2, to Cal State East Bay on Friday afternoon at Cox Stadium.
- The Gators fall to 7-7-2/5-1-2 CCAA. The Pioneers improve to 9-3-3/6-1-2 CCAA and take sole possession of first place with 20 total points.
- Still, SF State, picked to finish last in the CCAA in the preseason coaches poll, sits in third place. Sonoma State also lost on Friday and slid into second place.
- The Pioneers outshot SF State 10-9, including 8-4 shots on goal.
- Both teams attempted three corner kicks.
- Julia Hagedorn netted her team-leading third goal of the season and Alexa Avelar scored her second of the year.
- The match was the team's Think Pink Day, part of the CCAA's month-long initiative to raise awareness around breast cancer.
Former Gator Tami Kwong, now a grad student at CSUEB, netted her league-leading sixth goal of the season for the early Pioneers lead. She got the ball on the right side of the box in the 27th minute and put the ball in near the far post. Ten minutes later,
Kylie Schneider played a ball to Avelar, who beat the goalkeeper 1v1.
Just three minutes into the second half, the Gators were whistled for a costly foul in the box that resulted in a Lauren Inman penalty kick and a 2-1 Pioneers lead. Then, in the 52nd minute, Gators goalkeeper
Marcella Salyer slipped as the ball trickled past her for a 3-1 Pioneers lead. The Gators got a goal back in the 64th minute when Schneider notched another assist with a pass down the left side to
Julia Hagedorn, who blasted the ball to the upper v. That's as close as the Gators got though.
"We competed hard, scored two great goals, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough," said Head Coach John DeMartini. "It comes down to do we have the fight, can we battle these next two matches and secure the points we need? It's been amazing, I'm super proud, but there's still work to do."
Salyer, coming off of CCAA Women's Soccer Player of the Week honors, made five saves but the three goals allowed matched a season-high. Jordan Smith made two saves and let in a pair in the win for CSUEB.
On Sunday, October 31, the Gators host Stanislaus State in a Halloween matchup at 11:30 a.m. The match will be broadcast live on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_wsoc.
