ARCATA, Calif. - Cal State East Bay advanced to the final of the 2024 CCAA Women's Soccer Tournament presented by FloCollege, with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay in the semifinals on Friday at College Creek Field on the campus of Cal Poly Humboldt. The difference on the scoreboard was a goal from Morgan Pearson in the 36th minute. 
 

The Pioneers secured their spot in Sunday's final thanks to a decisive goal from junior forward Morgan Pearson in the 36th minute. Pearson, netting her third goal of the season and 10th of her career, capitalized on a well-placed assist from senior defender Kylie Newman.

East Bay's defense, anchored by junior goalkeeper Ashley Levi, stood firm against the Otters' persistent attacks. Levi made two crucial saves, including a pivotal stop in the 88th minute that preserved the shutout and the win.

• The match was a tightly contested affair, with East Bay holding a slight edge in shots (9-7) and shots on goal (5-2). The Pioneers' defense was particularly stout in the second half, weathering five shots from the Otters as they pushed for an equalizer.
• Abigail Kern, led the Pioneers with three shots, one on target.
• Pearson's game-winning goal came on one of her two shots for the day.

Morgan Pearson, describing her game-winning goal in the 36th minute:
"I just saw Kylie Newman, our outside back, just get the ball and I saw so much space in front of me so I knew she was gonna hit the ball and I was just like OK, just keep running, just keep running, and if I get a touch on it, then I get a touch on it. That's great and so fortunately I was able to get a deflection in the box and then it just slipped the keepers hands so it made it in."

Cal State East Bay head coach Anne Whipple following the match:
"I think it was nice to have the bye to get us all rested coming into this game, but we needed the first half to settle in and didn't have much of the run of play but found our groove, especially after the goal and then we're just us." 

Whipple added about how to maintain control of the match:
"We just talked about, like I said, we didn't really have the play and we just reminded our team that that's OK, right we kept our formation the same. Also, we were very adamant that we were gonna still attack and be us and not change anything too much but the biggest message was we needed to win first and second 50-50 balls, that was the biggest thing to help us kind of settle in."

Mika Sayfurahman following the match taking about the team's mindset maintaining a lead through 45 minutes of action: 
"We just told each other we only have 45 more minutes to push and we make it to the finals so honestly with that mentality and they were sending a lot of stuff so we're excited like obviously and everything. We just took everything that was negative and we made it positive and he really pushed each other and stayed positive."

Kylie Newman, who was on the 2021 Pioneer team that won the CCAA Tournament Championship, and is returning for Sunday's championship match:
"We should all be very grateful that we are where we're at and it's a privilege to be here and we worked very very hard to do it. We should never take anything for granted and I think everyone here is on the same page that we have to grind and we have to work really hard if we want the result that we want to get because it's not gonna be easy no matter what."

With this victory, Cal State East Bay advances to their second CCAA Tournament Championship Final in program history, with their last appearance coming in 2021. On Sunday, East Bay takes on top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona at 11 a.m. from College Creek Field in Arcata after the Broncos scored five unanswered goals in the second half on Friday to defeat Stanislaus State in the other tournament semifinal. On October 11, the Pioneers and Broncos faced off in Hayward, as Cal Poly Pomona won 3-2.