POMONA - Cal Poly Pomona and northern rival Chico State fought to a highly-entertaining scoreless deadlock in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) women's soccer match with giant postseason implications on Senior Day Sunday at Kellogg Stadium.

The result puts the Broncos at 8-5-3 overall and 4-3-3 in the CCAA. The Wildcats, winners of two straight coming in, move to 9-2-5 overall and 5-1-4 in league play. They are now 4-0-3 over their last seven without allowing a single goal.

The day began with Chico State tied for second in the conference table and CPP clinging to the sixth and final playoff position, as the top six advance to the 2021 CCAA Tournament. The game at Kellogg was the last one to end Sunday, and at its conclusion, the Broncos sit in a tie with Stanislaus State in sixth, while the 'Cats are alone in fourth.

That sets up a pretty simple win-and-you're-in scenario for CPP in its regular-season finale at local foe Cal State LA this Thursday, Nov. 4. A victory there would punch the Broncos' ticket to the conference tourney regardless of other outcomes. A loss or a tie, however, could end their year altogether. Cal Poly Pomona and Kellogg Stadium play host to the CCAA semifinals on Nov. 12 and final on Nov. 14.

The contest's first real action came in the 14th minute, when senior center back Amanda Faber, back in the starting lineup after missing her first game of 2021 on Friday, boomed a shot from around 30 yards that traveled into the arms of true freshman goalkeeper Emma Hofmann.

The Broncos then had efforts by their senior strike tandem of Emma Barrow and Taylor Scott, with the first going high and wide to the right, and Scott nodding Jessica Llamas' right-sided cross off to the left.

Chico State's first shot didn't come until right around the half-hour mark, with Brynn Howard's left-footer from outside the penalty box not troubling senior goalie Clarissa Sanchez at all.

It did not go down as a shot, but with less than two minutes left in the opening period, Bronco true freshman Melanie Harradine lifted a cross from the right side that took a high bounce near the penalty spot, and Hofmann got to it just barely ahead of a crashing Gillian Ortin.

At the end of the first half, CPP held slim edges of 4-2 in shots and 2-1 in corner kicks.

The hosts came out of the interval upping the aggressiveness, and it nearly paid off in the 54th minute as Nicolle Villarreal's left-footer from the right diagonal and 12 yards out grazed the left post following a throw-in and right-sided cross by fellow junior Bridget Carbonneau.

Then it was Chico State that produced probably the best scoring chance to that point, in the 66th. A cross from the right bounced around in the middle before Natalie Mendoza got a good swing on it with her left foot from eight yards or so, and senior Sydney Williams, who took over in the Bronco net at halftime, dove to her right and expertly got her right paw up to swat the shot away.

In the 70th, the Wildcats put a left-sided corner kick into the box which was headed down, and Madison Parsons got her right foot to it, but was denied by Williams. In the 77th, Carbonneau raced back on defense and made a great tackle on Susanna Garcia to thwart another Chico attack.

A last-gap regulation effort by Elise Garcia with her right foot from 19 yards in the center off a right-sided Barrow cross was scooped up by Hofmann, and CPP headed to overtime for the fourth time in 2021.

Cal Poly Pomona generated a tremendous scoring opportunity 2:25 into the first overtime session, coming down the right flank before Allyssa Larkin provided a deft over-the-head flick with her back to goal for Scott in stride, who in turn touched it past the last defender with her right foot and blasted a low left-footer that Hofmann dove to her left to deny.

The activity stayed fast and furious in that period, with Garcia's header going just wide to the right in the 96th, and Alyssa Carthan's wicked right-footer from 25 yards on the other end a minute later getting tipped out to a corner by Hofmann.

Early on in the second overtime, Llamas' right-sided cross was turned onto goal by Scott at the near post, but Hofmann again was up to the task, reaching down to her left to turn it away. The Broncos had one last chance with under a minute left, but Llamas dragged her left-footer wide to the right off Larkin's cross from the left.

Making her third start of the year, Sanchez had one save in the first half for CPP. Williams added five stops from there to equal her season high. Hofmann collected six saves for the guests. It was a seventh straight clean sheet for the Folsom product and 10th on the year to tie her for the league lead. She stretched her individual shutout streak to 690:27.

CPP out-shot Chico State on the day, 16-8, including 7-2 for the 20 overtime minutes.

Seventeen Broncos past and present were recognized prior to their final regular-season home appearances on Senior Day. The group included current seniors and super seniors in Barrow, Carthan, Faber, Garcia, Larkin, Llamas, Sanchez, Scott, Williams, Jillian Erwin, Allison Hung, Shayna Larson and Tori Morton. Also honored were Lauren Knapik Ally LaCarra-Platt, Samantha Putnam and Taylor Rasmussen, who missed out on their Senior Day a year ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Putnam was the only one of the quartet who was able to be on hand.

Thursday's huge showdown at Cal State LA's (5-9-2, 5-4-1 CCAA) University Stadium is slated for a 2 p.m. start, following the equally-anticipated men's game at 11:30 a.m. The Broncos put together a 4-2 home win over the Golden Eagles in non-conference action on Sept. 25.

All CCAA soccer contests throughout this 2021 season will stream live online free of charge via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans may also download the CCAA Network app on your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku or Apple TV.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 43-32-15 (.561) overall and 25-19-14 (.552) in CCAA play under sixth-year head coach and 2019 CCAA Coach of the Year Jay Mason ... Mason sent out his ninth different starting lineup of the season, with Amanda Faber back in for Allison Hung, and senior teammate Clarissa Sanchez drawing her third start of 2021 in goal ... Alyssa Carthan and Taylor Scott each began their 37th consecutive games, with Scott now at 39 appearances in a row, and the duo among six Broncos who have started all 16 games ... Sydney Williams remains No. 1 all-time in program history with her career goals-against average of .621 ... CPP ends the 2021 regular season 5-2-3 at home ... The Broncos are 0-1-3 in overtime contests, with Sunday marking a third scoreless draw, all at home ... CPP has still only been out-shot once this season ... Cal Poly Pomona is 2-2-1 against the Wildcats with Mason at the helm, including 0-1-1 in Pomona ... The Broncos are 13-19-5 in the all-time series (4-9-3 in Pomona) ... Cal Poly Pomona's last home win over Chico State was 1-0 on Oct. 18, 2009 (0-3-2 there since) ... CPP and Chico State appeared at No. 5 and No. 8, respectively, in Wednesday's initial release of the NCAA Division II West Region poll, with the top six teams in the final ranking on Nov. 15 making the 56-team NCAA Championship field ... CPP was picked second in the CCAA preseason coaches' poll, with Chico State fifth.