Soccer scoring drought puts Stanislaus women in dire situation

There’s no way to explain the late-season slide of the Cal State Stanislaus women’s soccer team other than “well, that’s soccer.”

The Warriors (12-4-1, 5-4-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association) snapped a four-game goalless streak with Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The four games represents but a small blip within the season, but it was enough to send Stanislaus from a spot atop the CCAA standings to a position where it not only needs to win Thursday’s 7 p.m. home game against Cal State East Bay (6-9-2, 3-7), but it also needs some help to just to finish in the top six and earn a spot in the CCAA Tournament.

The Warrior men (6-7-3, 4-4-2) are in a better position. They moved into sixth place in the CCAA with Sunday’s 2-1, double-overtime victory against Dominguez Hills and need only to win Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against East Bay (4-8-5, 0-6-4) to claim a conference playoff spot. A win combined with losses by UC San Diego and CSU San Bernardino would boost the Warriors to fourth place and allow them to host a first-round game Sunday.

There is no scenario that would allow the Warrior women to move into fourth place. They need a win and either a tie or loss by Sonoma State at San Francisco State, or a loss by UC San Diego against CSU Dominguez Hills just to move into sixth.

“There’s nothing we can complain about,” women’s coach Gabe Bolton said. “We haven’t had any bad referees calls, we haven’t played in a monsoon, the team is healthy and working hard, so there’s nothing we can point to as a reason for this other than the ball didn’t bounce our way a few times.

“But you look at 12-4 and we’ve scored the most goals in the CCAA and are fourth in goals allowed. That’s not to diminish what other teams did to beat us, because those teams did great jobs.”

In any scenario, the Warriors’ season might not be over. They’re ranked 24th in the nation and are No. 4 in the West Region. Should that ranking hold, Stanislaus would be in position to grab an at-large berth in the NCAA West Region. The Warriors have long since lost the chance to host a regional – an honor that generally goes to the top-ranked team, but at this point they can’t be choosy.

“It’s unfortunate, the position we’re in, because this is a really good team, and we’re not talking about a team that just barely has a .500 record,” Bolton said. “We played a really tough preseason schedule and happened to lose a lot of 1-0 games at a really bad time.

“We’re not happy with the scoreboard, but we’re proud and happy with the way we’ve played.”

NOTES – The volleyball team (2-17, 2-13 CCAA) are home for two matches this weekend, battling CSU San Bernardino on Friday and Humboldt State on Saturday ... The men’s cross-country team has moved up to No. 8 in the West Region in the coaches’ poll. The Warrior men’s and women’s teams are preparing for the CCAA Championships on Nov. 8 in San Bernardino ... The men’s golf team, whose official season is in the spring, close out the fall preview season this Friday and Saturday at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate Tournament, hosted by Hawaii-Hilo on the Waikoloa Kings’ Course.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Soccer scoring drought puts Stanislaus women in dire situation."