It was not a happy Halloween for the SF State women's soccer team as they suffered their fourth loss of the season at Cox Stadium against the Humboldt State Lumberjacks.

Sunday's 1-0 defeat was not how the Gators expected to finish the season, despite becoming the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division champions on Friday.

"We had some hiccups today, but we have still done well enough to get to the California Collegiate Athletic Association championships," said Jack Hyde, the Gators' head coach.
The Gators finished the season with an 11-4-3 overall record and a 10-4-2 record inthe CCAA. Last season, SF State was 8-8-4 overall and 6-7-3 in the CCAA.

The third seed Gators prepare to play the UC San Diego Tritons for the second time in three years Nov. 5 in the semi-finals of the CCAA Soccer Championships in Turlock, Calif.

The last meeting ended in a 0-0 tie Sept. 26 at Cox Stadium.

The Tritons defeated SF State 5-4 in penalty kicks two years ago. They later became the CCAA champions.

This year, the Tritons are the number two seed in the tournament and finished second in the CCAA South Division with a 14-2-2 overall record and a 12-2-2 conference record.

"We just have to focus on the CCAA championships instead of what happened today," said senior forward Myriah Johnson. "We have to wipe this from our minds completely. We got a week to prepare and if it is UC San Diego that we need to face, then we will be ready for them."

Missed Opportunity

The Lumberjacks scored the game's only goal in the 18th minute of the second half. Junior Sarah Nakamoto made a cross pass to sophomore midfielder Carly Kolpin, who got through the Gators' defense and kicked the ball hard past goalkeeper Annicia Jones to the left side of the net for her second goal of the season and the game-winner.

"In general, I think we did not execute well all day," Hyde said. "Humboldt came to play today. We missed some opportunities to score. We cannot expect to win if we miss scoring opportunities."

The Gators had a total of 15 shots in the game, but only seven were on target. Their only real chance came with 11:22 left in the game.

Senior defender Lauren McAulay made an aerial pass to freshman defender Kaitlin Dick whose shot attempt was blocked by a diving Jennie Paugh, Humboldt's goalie, as well as by the hand of one of her teammates.

The handball resulted in a penalty kick awarded to SF State after the head referee conferred with both the sideline referee and the Lumberjacks' head coach Christian Johnson.

With a rambunctious opposing crowd cheering, midfielder Andrea Carey kicked the ball too far to the left past Paugh and missed the goal post by several inches.

"Even though she didn't make it, we are still proud of her," Jones said when asked about Carey's missed penalty kick that would have tied the game. "She's come a long way and has done a lot of good things for us this season."

Eagerly wanting the game to be over, the Lumberjacks purposely wasted time and received a yellow card for doing so with eight minutes remaining.

After experiencing a difficult loss, many players were in a somber mood and started crying. The Gators just could not believe the way their regular season ended.

"I'm sad to see it go," Johnson said. "It has been a long road. I thought I was going to quit at least four times, but it has been a really good last season as well."