Wildcats’ second chance at postseason out of their hands

Chico State hoping to receive NCAA Tournament bid Monday

TURLOCK – The wearisome wait begins.

The Chico State men’s soccer team will undoubtedly spend the next three days praying and hoping for a chance at postseason redemption following its 3-0 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the opening round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament Friday afternoon at Warrior Stadium in Turlock.

The Wildcats, who fell to 13-6 on the season, were the champions of the CCAA’s North Division and the No. 2 seed in the CCAA Championship Tournament. They entered the weekend ranked No. 2 in the West Region. The top four teams in the West, as chosen by an NCAA committee, will advance to next weekend’s NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional. Thus, two teams would have to leapfrog the Wildcats this week in order for them to be left home.

The two teams hoping to do just that are Cal State Dominguez Hills and Sonoma State. The Toros, who improved to 14-4-2, entered the weekend ranked No. 4 in the West. Sonoma State was No. 6. However, the Seawolves knocked off No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino prior to the Wildcats’ loss Friday to improve to 13-5-1.  No. 3 Grand Canyon beat Chaminade 6-0 Wednesday and takes on the Silverswords again Friday night. No. 5 Notre Dame de Namur lost Thursday, likely ending the Argonauts’ postseason hopes.

The NCAA Championship Tournament field will be announced via a webcast selection show Monday at 4 p.m.

A smoky haze greeted the teams as they left their hotel on the north end of Turlock Friday morning. Though the haze lifted a bit as the day wore on, the Wildcats never seemed to pull out of it. They had not lost by more than a goal all season and had not absorbed a three-goal loss since the 2008 campaign until choosing a bad day to play their worst soccer of the season.

Scott Locken grabbed a deflection following his own corner kick and found the back of the net in the 35th minute to begin what turned into Toros turnaround of their 3-1 loss in Chico earlier this season. The Toros, winners of four straight by a combined score of 13-0, added two insurance goals in the second half.

Jordan Rover took a Billy Gutierrez feed on a breakaway in the 58th minute for his seventh goal of the season and Alex Munoz tallied his sixth goal of the season with 1:05 to play, cleaning up Diego Turoldo’s deflected shot at the near post to give the 24th-ranked Toros a 3-0 win.

If the Wildcats are not chosen for the NCAA Championship Tournament, Friday marked an unceremonious end to the careers of four seniors – CCAA Honorable Mention midfielder Zach Bradford, defender Ryan Nevarez (who played courageously on an injured ankle Friday), and valuable reserves Leo Zarate and Josh Johnson.

If the Wildcats are fortunate enough receive a berth and second postseason life, they’ll be happy to not be going back to Turlock where they’ve lost two in a row in the span of six days. Ranked No. 13 in the nation prior to that skid, the Wildcats are shockingly now simply hoping their season isn’t over.