ROHNERT PARK, Calif-  After a scoreless first half, Sonoma State opened up the floodgates in the second on their way to a 4-0 blanking of rival Chico State in the regular season finale for both teams on Sunday at Trione Fields in Santa Rosa.  Both teams have qualified for next week's CCAA Tournament in La Jolla.  The 12th-ranked Seawolves will enter the tournament as the top seed for the second straight year as they go to 17-2-2, 11-1-2 with Sunday's win.  The Wildcats go to 13-5-0, 9-5-0 CCAA.

The Seawolves will enter the tournament on an eight-game winning streak in which they've outscored their opponents 28-2.  Sunday's fourth goal was the 64th of the season for Sonoma State, tying the school record set in 1991.

In a well played first half in which neither team could reach the net, the Seawolves and Wildcats had the surprisingly large crowd thinking we'd be in for a nail biter.  Said head coach Marcus Ziemer, "We just weren't sharp in the first half.  We didn't play with any urgency and we weren't moving the ball well."

Just three minutes into the second, the Seawolves would start to turn the tide when Ben Langwith headed in a Jack Jones cross to make it 1-0 in favor of the "home" team.

"We made some adjustments at the half," said Ziemer, "We didn't think they'd be able to run with us."

Eleven minutes later, the Seawolves found goal number two when Scott Preckwinkle set up Eric Lafon for a goal with a nice shift in the box. 

The rout was on when, in the 70th minute Preckwinkle and Lafon would again connect for a goal.  This time it was Lafon feeding Preckwinkle with a beautiful, lofting corner kick.  It was Lafon's 13th assist of the season, tying the school's all-time single season record (Andrew Ziemer, 1991 and Roman Ritz, 1993). 

The final goal of the game arrived in the 72nd minute when Nathan Medina blasted home one of his patented lasers off a Ross Middlemiss assist.

The Seawolves held a 14-7 edge in shots and limited the Wildcats to just two shots in the second half.

Coach Ziemer was proud of his team's performance and was sure to comment on the play of his reserves, "We have so much depth.  Guys like (Ben) Langwith are coming up big."

Brook Johnson earned his tenth shutout of the year, moving him to within one of the all-time record of 24, set by Dave Kaufman (1989-91).

Prior to the game, the Seawolves honored nine seniors playing their final regular season home game:  Andrew Bailey, Doug Carr, Mike Duncan, Jones, Lafon, Middlemiss, Medina, Preckwinkle, and Mark Wiedeman.

Sunday's match was played off campus due to heavy rains over the weekend.

Game times for next week's CCAA Tournament will be announced on Monday.  Be sure to check in to sonomaseawolves.com for all the details.

Said Ziemer, "We've accomplished one of our goals, entering the CCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed.  Now we're ready to accomplish the next one."

Box Score