On Sunday the rain fell hard, and so did the Pioneers.

Cal State East Bay’s women’s soccer team couldn’t overcome the weather and lost to the Chico State Wildcats (7-7-1 overall, 3-7 conference) 2-0 in a California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference game. The Pioneers’ record fell to 3-8-3 overall and 2-6 in conference matches.

The first score of the game came in the 30th minute when Wildcats sophomore forward Carlie Reader took control of the ball. She dribbled toward the net and fired a shot past East Bay goalkeeper senior Jasmine Corbett to give Chico State a 1-0 lead. It was Reader’s second goal of the season.

Despite several shot attempts from both teams, the score remained tied until midway through the second half. In the 73rd minute, the Wildcats struck again when senior midfielder Lindsey Dias scored her team-high fourth goal of the season to increase the lead 2-0. Dias headed a ball past Corbett on an assist from Chico State freshman midfielder Emily Curry, her first assist of the year.

Chico State outshot East Bay 6-5 and senior midfielder Tia Sidtikun led the Pioneers with 2.

The loss came on the heels of some good news for the soccer team. Last week the Pioneer women were one of 914 squads throughout all NCAA divisions to earn the National Collegiate Soccer Coaches Association Team Academic Award. Since 1941, the award has been given to teams that maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0 during the prior season.

This is the fourth straight year East Bay has claimed the award and of all nine teams in the CCAA that received it this year, the Pioneers had the highest grade point average at 3.43.

East Bay has just four games remaining in the regular season and their final two home games are tomorrow at 7 p.m. against Cal State San Marcos (6-3-4, 4-3-1) and Sunday at 2 p.m. against UC San Diego. The Tritons are in first place in the conference at 12-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in CCAA play.

Sunday will be senior day for the Pioneers where the team is introduced prior to the game and walked out on the field by their family and friends.