BOX SCORE:  Sonoma State 2, No. 14 Chico State 1

ROHNERT PARK, Calif-  Sonoma State gained three points on North Division frontrunner Chico State on Friday afternoon with a 2-1 victory over the 14th-ranked Wildcats at Seawolf Field.  The Seawolves earn a season split with the Wildcats and improve to 7-4-0, 5-4-0 CCAA on the season.  The Wildcats drop to 8-3-0, 6-3-0 CCAA.

This was a huge win," head coach Marcus Ziemer said. "It puts us right back in the CCAA North Division title race and in competition for a CCAA tournament berth. We were ready to play today. We moved the ball well and controlled for most of the game."

Like most games played between fierce rivals, Friday's match was physical, featuring seven cards- six yellows and a red.  Chico would be most affected, losing defender Evan Johnston to a second yellow just 28 minutes in.

Though the Seawolves would carry a healthy 9-2 advantage in shots during the first half, they had trouble pushing one through the defense.  Their perserverance paid off in the 39th minute when Nico Spann collected a rebound and slotted it past the Chico keeper.  Cam Vickers and Taylor Varnadore were credited with assists on the play that put Sonoma up 1-0.

Early in the second half, the Seawolves found what would turn out to be a very important second goal.  David Holleran sent a long cross to the left side where it was gathered by Trevor Hurst.  Hurst used some quick footwork to slip by the defender and punch the ball into the net. 

Now up 2-0, the Seawolves had no time to savor their inflated lead as, just 40 seconds later, Chico State sliced the margin in half.  In truly international fashion, Bosnian Ferid Celosmanovic found Nigerian Chris Akwaja with a nice through ball, setting up a one-one-one with Sonoma keeper, Juan Sosa.  Akwaja was able to quickly beat Sosa to give the Wildcats their first score of the day and instill some hope into a side playing down a man. 

That hope would slowly deflate though, as the Sonoma defense held strong down the stretch.  The shot total would be much more even in the second half (the Seawolves led 8-6), but a stingy back line left Sosa out of trouble the rest of the way. 

The Seawolves would lead overall in shots, 17-8, and in corner kicks, 9-6.  Chico had the dubious honor of leading in both fouls, 19-10, and overall cards, 4-3.

"Our midfield was outstanding," Ziemer added. "Spann, Jomed Tejan and Holleran helped us keep possession, but also played excellent defense. It got a little crazy at the end of the game, but I thought we deserved the win. Now we need to recover and get ready for a battle on Sunday."

The Seawolves will now set their sights on the other North Division opponent that is ahead of them in the standings, Cal State Stanislaus.  Entering this afternoon's game up in Arcata between Stanislaus and Humboldt, the Warriors lead the Seawolves by one point in the North.  Sonoma and Stanislaus get together on Sunday at 11:30 at Seawolf Field in the penultimate game of the 2010 home season.

GAME NOTES:  Trevor Hurst's second half goal was his team-leading seventh of the season...the Seawolves beat the Wildcats for the seventh straight time at home (dating back to 2003)...Sonoma is now 16-2-1 against Chico since the 2001 season.