“The game’s not over till the game’s over,” said forward Ciara Wilson following her game-winning goal. “Anything can happen at the last second.”

The Fresno State women’s soccer team scored twice in the final four minutes on Sunday night from the Bulldog Soccer Stadium to defeat Cal State Bakersfield 2-1.

Following the loss to Seattle University on Sept. 1, the team is back on track with the victory over the Roadrunners, improving to 4-1-1 on the season.

Head Coach Brian Zwaschka said they learned some lessons from their past opponents.

“One of the things that caught us against Seattle was set pieces,” Zwaschka said. “I was really proud that we really shored that up and got a shut out from any set piece play.”

The game was off to a physical start with Fresno State senior defender Avaree Campos getting a yellow card after a battle for the ball in the air in the third minute, resulting in a free kick for the Roadrunners.

Six minutes later, the Roadrunner’s forward Josie Novak scored a goal off a well-placed through ball from forward Solei Moton on the right side of the field in the ninth minute, putting the Roadrunners ahead 1-0.

Both teams went back and forth following the goal, with Fresno State trying to be the aggressors with a series of shot attempts that were all on target but saved. One of them, freshman midfielder Sam Paepen nearly fell over backwards after a fifty-fifty ball was punched out by the Roadrunners’ goalkeeper.

Towards the end of the first half, the trend of physicality continued with Bulldog’s midfielder Kaya Scott being issued a yellow card after a fight for the ball on the right side of Fresno State’s box. The Bulldogs went into halftime down one.

In the second half, Fresno State came out patient yet aggressive, bringing defenders up to nearly the halfway line and spending much of the early half on the Roadrunners’ side of the field. 

As a result, shot attempts for Fresno State were in abundance. One of the shots was a strong strike from forward Kaelyn Miller just outside the box in the sixty-third minute, which was saved, but followed by another from Miller in the eighty-first minute.

Five minutes later, Fresno State’s aggressiveness paid off with a goal from Paepen in the eighty-sixth minute. Paepen was in the right place at the right time when a loose ball came to her outside the box ready for her to strike it with her right foot to tie the game 1-1.

Heading into the last four minutes, the ‘Dogs were hungry for the win and in the eighty-eighth minute, Paepen had another look at a goal but was deflected by a teammate. A second later, Wilson was in perfect position for a chance at winning the game and she capitalized on it, giving Fresno State the win with a final score of 2-1.

Going into the second half, down one, Wilson credits coach Zwaschka’s halftime advice to stay composed and stay aggressive which got them the win.

“He just said ‘play our game’,” Wilson said. “Offensively, keeping the ball and trying to dribble into the box and test the keeper instead of not using our skill.” 

Fresno State is back in action at Oregon State on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.