ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Friday, September 23rd, the Sonoma State men's soccer team fell in their conference opener, 2-1, to rival Chico State. The Seawolves CCAA opener against the rival Wildcats would live up to the hype as an intense and physical game would come down to the wire with some late drama. 

Out of the gate, head coach Marcus Ziemer and his squad were outplaying the Wildcats with swift ball movement and probing action in the offensive third. Sonoma State's first quality chance would come in the 11th minute where midfielder Bryan Rosales would rattle a shot off the left post and across the goal line before being cleared. A swung in ball from the left side would find the head of freshman winger Jvon Cunningham. Cunningham would leap and head the ball to Rosales near the penalty spot where he would connect on an acrobatic half bicycle kick that would hit the left post. 

No more than five minutes later though, Chico State would give themselves some breathing room and convert on a long distance free kick from the right side of the penalty area. A left footed strike would swerve just inside of the Seawolves wall and off the hand of sophomore keeper Reinier ter Riet into the bottom left hand corner. No more than ten minutes later and with the momentum starting to swing Chico's way, the Seawolves would give up a penalty kick on a slide tackle in the left portion of the 18-yard box. The conversion would give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead heading into the half, but with much of the game still to play. 

As the game continued deeper into the second half the physicality would begin to ramp up for both sides. Four yellow cards combined would be issued in the second half alone. With Sonoma State becoming desperate and time winding down, they would get more aggressive in the offensive third but become vulnerable on the counter with a thin defensive line. Senior center back Matt Walleigh would make some heroic one-on-one tackles in open space to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard in the second half and allow SSU to continue to attack and put pressure on the Wildcats back line. An injury late in the first half to a member of the Seawolves back line would force junior Nathan Arnott to play a makeshift outside back role, but Arnott would thrive with some aggressive challenges and posed a threat to combine and go forward late in the game. 

In the 79th minute, the Seawolves would threaten again on a dangerous free kick opportunity just outside the top left of the penalty box. Senior midfielder Ulysses Vega would step up to take the kick as he found himself in an awfully similar spot compared to his free kick goal the week prior against Dominican. Vega would make a solid strike but a tall Chico State wall would block the shot and send it out for a corner. 

The Seawolves would see one of their best chances of the game and arguably one of the best individual efforts in the 70th minute as senior midfielder Sean Rohane would collect a deflected ball, and off of a fake shot and drag to his left he would dice his way through two defenders and have a blistered right footed shot from nearly 30 yards out, rattling the left corner of the cross bar. Rohane would finish the game with two shots and 77 minutes of action.    

Another few minutes later freshman winger Patrick Neill would pick off a ball from a Chico State defender and then take on and dice his way through three Wildcat defenders to have a left footed shot in the box blocked by the fourth defender. Neill picked up his 6th start of the season and tallied 83 minutes of action in the contest. 

Down to their final five minutes, Sonoma State would finally break through on an awarded penalty kick, drawn by junior forward Oliver Ziemer. After laying a ball off at the top of the box, Ziemer would spin off his defender and make a darting run into the penalty area. Ziemer collided with a helping defender right in sight of the referee and earned SSU the penalty kick in the 86th minute. Ulysses Vega would step up and roof the penalty in the upper portion of the middle of the net to bring Sonoma State to within one. 

Despite the late comeback and two shots off the woodwork, the Seawolves would come up short as Chico State held on for the 2-1 victory in the conference opener. 23 total shots and an 8 card affair would provide for another energetic crowd at Seawolf Soccer Field. Sonoma State would outshoot Chico 10-8 in the second half with Vega leading the team with three shots on the day. ter Riet would also finish with a game high five saves, bringing his season save total to 25.   

"That was a tough loss. The game came down to a couple of moments and it truly could've fell our way. I was happy overall with the quality odf play and thought we moved the ball really well for the majority of the game. Sean Rohane was outstanding in the midfield and nearly had the goal of the season. We'll recover tomorrow and be prepared for Humboldt on Sunday" (HC, Marcus Ziemer). 

Sonoma State falls to 3-3-2 overall and 0-1 in CCAA play. They will rest up and conclude the homestand on Sunday, September 25th against Cal Poly Humboldt. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 PM, live stats and ticket links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and you can also stream the game live on the CCAA Network. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation