BOX SCORE #20 Sonoma State 4, Humboldt State 2 -- Box Score

ROHNERT PARK -- After trailing 1-0 at halftime despite an 11-2 shot advantage, the Sonoma State women's soccer team continued to pepper the Humboldt State defense in the second half and it would finally pay off, as four of the 18 shots by SSU in the final 45 minutes found the back of the net, helping the Seawolves earn a 4-2 victory over the Lumberjacks on Senior Day in Rohnert Park. 

Sonoma State improves to 10-2-3 overall and 8-2-3 in the CCAA and, after a UC San Diego tie with San Francisco State on Friday evening, the Seawolves are heading back to the conference tournament for the second straight season.  The Lumberjacks fall to 3-9-3 and 1-9-3 in conference action.

"Today was a day where we had to work on distraction control because it was Senior Day," said SSU head coach Emiria Salzmann Dunn.  "It was emotional because it was our last home game of the year and we haven't played well at home, so that was something that we wanted to change."

"Humboldt (State) came out and played differently than we expected and it was very difficult to break, but when we gave up the goal, I was really proud of the way we battled back because those teams can eek out results against you," Salzmann Dunn added. 

"We could have been more consistent and not allowed them to score the two goals, but we showed a lot of fight and pride for our seniors to not let that game get away from us and to give them a win and to send them off in the way that they deserved."

While SSU held a 10-1 lead in shots through the first 40 minutes of the contest, HSU broke through to score the game's first goal on a breakaway by Samantha Morris that beat SSU keeper Allison Hadidian from eight yards out for the 1-0 lead for the visitors.  The Seawolves would attempt one more shot in the half, but the ball would be cleared by a Lumberjack defender just inches before it crossed the goal line and the hosts would find themselves trailing at the intermission.

Seven and a half minutes into the second half on their 13th shot attempt of the day, the Seawolves would find the net after Lauren Curtin assisted Margi Osmundson on her fourth goal of the season, knotting the game at 1-1 at 52:32.  Seven more minutes later at 59:26, JJ McFarlin took a pass from Cara Curtin and fired a shot from five yards out to beat HSU keeper Kelly Lukas for the 2-1 lead.

The lead wouldn't last long, however, as the Lumberjacks tied the game at two apiece when Maddi Null found the net at 62:41.  At the 71:37 mark, Cara Curtin got in on the scoring party, breaking the 2-2 tie with a breakaway goal after Hadidian punted the ball downfield in behind the HSU defense.  Sister Lauren Curtin later put the game away, scoring on a header at the 80:53 mark to give the Seawolves the eventual 4-2 victory.

When the dust settled, Sonoma State emerged with a 29-5 shot advantage, including 18-3 in the second half.  The Curtin sisters combined for 12 of those 29 attempts with Cara taking seven shots.  The Seawolves kept HSU's Lukas busy as she made seven saves in the losing effort.  Meanwhile, Hadidian made one stop between the posts for SSU.

Sonoma State now sets its sights on the road as it will play its final three games of the regular season away from the Seawolf Soccer Field.  It begins with a tough test on Sunday when the Seawolves travel to Turlock to face seventh-ranked Cal State Stanislaus, which is still unbeaten on the season (12-0-2, 10-0-2 CCAA).  Kickoff between the Seawolves and Warriors is set for 11:30 am.