The road to a division title for the SF State women’s soccer team was in its control until a loss took it away, putting the fate of the Gators’ season on edge.

On Friday, Oct. 17, the Gators gave up three goals for the first time all season in a 3-0 loss to Cal State Stanislaus, a team with one conference win going into the game.

“Good teams lose all the time to teams they shouldn’t. There is no way we should have lost to them,” Morgan Davison said.

“We try to go one game at a time. We’re not stupid, we see the big picture. We started getting carried away. We put so much pressure on ourselves.”

The California Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs are not out of reach for the Gators (10-6-2, 8-3-1), but in order to guarantee them a wildcard slot they must win the rest of their games.

They currently lead the North Division with 25 points. In second place is Sonoma State (12-3-1, 7-2-1) with 22 points.

The Seawolves have four games left to play while the Gators only have two. In order to outright win the North Division the Gators need Sonoma State to stumble down the stretch.

If the Gators beat Humboldt State on Friday and win their rivalry match with Sonoma State on Sunday, this would guarantee SF State a tie with Sonoma for the division title if the Seawolves pick up the other nine points.

“This is my senior game,” Courtney Hamchuk said. “This is make or break. Do we want to end now or keep going?”

On Sunday, Oct. 19 the Gators bounced back from Friday with their conference-leading tenth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win against Chico State.

Robin Bowman scored the only goal for her conference-leading fifth game-winner.

Hamchuk got her third assist of the season on a lob pass that fell right out of the keeper’s hands for “Big Goal” Bowman to score her team-leading ninth goal of the season.

The keeper dropped the ball and Bowman poked it in.

“[It was] another goal where I was at the right place at the right time,” said Bowman.

The bite of the Gator was toothless against Stanislaus after the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game.

The Warriors’ first goal came off a penalty kick in the 14th minute.

Lauren McAulay was called for a handball that was unintentional, giving the Warriors the penalty kick and the only goal they would need.

Hamchuk said it was a bad call and the refs were the worst she has seen in four years.

“We weren’t ourselves, we didn’t play like ourselves. We didn’t come out with the same intensity,” Bowman said. “After 10 to 15 minutes, we got back on our heels. After the PK we couldn’t come back, which is very uncharacteristic. It was a downward spiral.”

The top team in the North and South Division will make the CCAA Tournament and so will two teams with the highest point totals.

The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Teams can also receive a bid to the NCAA showdown if they are ranked in the top six for the final region rankings.

SF State is currently ranked fifth in the West Region.

Making the CCAA tournament will be a first for the women’s soccer team in the 10 years SF State has been in the conference.

The last women’s soccer team to make the NCAA D-II Tournament was in 2002.

The purple and gold will play Humboldt State at 3:00 p.m. on Friday and Sunday, Oct. 26 they will square off against SF State’s rival Sonoma at 11:30 a.m.

The game against Sonoma will be senior night. This will be the last chance for the home fans to see Davison, Hamchuk, Bowman and Lauren Candia.

In the first conference road trip of the season the Gators had Humboldt and Sonoma on the schedule and lost both games.

The teams that played that weekend did not look like the Gators. The difference this time is that the Gators are at home where they are 5-0-1 in conference.

“Friday is going to be payback,” Candia said. “This weekend I just want to dominate these teams. It will redeem us from the last time.”