HAYWARD, Calif. – Already with a CCAA Tournament bye locked up, the Cal State San Marcos women's soccer team (9-2-6, 6-0-5 CCAA) ended its regular season with a 2-2 draw at Cal State East Bay (7-6-4, 4-5-2 CCAA) on Thursday at Pioneer Stadium.
 
GOALS
CSUEB – 8' Jenna Villanueva (Assisted by Payton Heaney)
CSUSM – 31' Natalie Paulson (Penalty Kick)
CSUSM – 70' Brianna Delgado (Assisted by Kaci Embree)
CSUEB – 75' Mika Sayfurahman (Penalty Kick)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a pass into the box from the left side by Heaney, Villanueva put a shot into the top right corner of the goal from 10 yards out to give the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
• The Cougars knotted the game at 1-1 in the 31st minute. After Embree was fouled in the left side of the box, Natalie Paulson lined up for the penalty kick and put the ball dead center into the back of the net as the Pioneer keeper dove to her left.
• At the end of the first half, CSUSM had an 8-3 lead in shots while putting five on goal.
• CSUSM took a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute as Embree passed the ball from the left side of the field to Delgado outside the top right corner of the box. Delgado then took a low, rolling shot just inside the box and found the bottom left corner of the net.
• A CSUSM handball in the box set up a CSUEB penalty kick in the 75th minute. Sayfurahmen put the shot into the right side of the goal to knot the game at 2-2.

 
QUICK KICKS

• The Cougars finish the regular season in second place with 23 points while Cal Poly Pomona won the CCAA Regular-Season Championship with a 1-0 victory at Cal State San Bernardino and concluded conference play with 25 points.
• CSUSM's second-place finish in CCAA play is its best in program history.
• The Cougars extended their unbeaten streak to 12 – one shy of the program record set in 2014.
• CSUSM ends conference play with no losses on the ledger.
• The Cougars were 3-0-3 in away contests this season.
• Paulson's goal was her team-leading sixth of the season – the most by a Cougar in a single season since 2014.
• The goal by Delgado was her fifth of the year while Embree tallied her fourth assist.
• CSUSM ended the game with a shot margin of 15-8 while putting eight on goal to East Bay's four.
• The Cougars took more corner kicks at 3-2 – all in the first half.
• Possession for the game was split right down the middle at 50-50 while 75% of CSUSM's possessions occurred in CSUEB territory.
• The Cougars came in at No. 8 in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings on Wednesday.

 
UP NEXT
As the No. 2 seed, CSUSM has earned a bye to the semifinals of the CCAA Tournament taking place at Cal State Monterey Bay's Cardinale Stadium on Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. The Cougars will face the winner of third-seeded Cal State LA (8-1-8, 5-0-6 CCAA) and sixth-seeded Chico State (11-6-1, 6-4-1 CCAA), who play each other in the first round on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in Los Angeles.