CHICO, Calif. - Midwestern State goes for its second NCAA Division II Final Four appearance Saturday afternoon at University Soccer Stadium.

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. (Central Time).

But in order to advance to the NCAA II Fall Sports Festival during the first week of December in Louisville, Ky., the Mustangs must do what they have never done before. Get by the Chico State Wildcats.

"The biggest challenge is playing them on their home field," MSU coach Doug Elder said. "They are very confident after winning two games last weekend. You have to overcome the travel and be able to stay focused and not getting involved in the crowd, official or style of play tomorrow. But really, we just need to play our game."

Chico State denied MSU a national semifinal appearance with a 3-1 win on Nov. 22, 2003 at the MSU Soccer Field.

In that match, Midwestern outplayed the Wildcats during the run of play dominating with a 24-5 shots margin, but Chico State converted three of them into goals including two in the opening half before the match was put away with an own goal off of a corner kick in the 88th minute.

Ricardo Box had pulled MSU within a goal in the 79th minute.

In the only other meeting, Chico State claimed a 1-0 victory in the Far West Classic back in 1976.

The Mustangs put the nation's only unbeaten mark on the line Saturday at 18-0-2 and have truly accomplished the feat as a team.

"The key this year has been chemistry," Elder said. "Our midfield has really picked up a big part of the load. All of the guys really play for each other. This is one of the best teams I've coached."

Nine different players led by reserve redshirt freshman forward VcMor Eligwe (10 goals, 5 assists) have tallied at least four goals this season as the Mustangs ranked second in NCAA Division II in goals per game with (3.05).

Of MSU's 61 goals, forwards have scorded 29, the midfield has accounted for 26 and defenders have tallied six.

Daktronics South Central Player of the Year Raul Herrera leads the nation's third-ranked defense in terms of goals against average (0.54).

The senior goalkeeper from Dallas has missed the last two matches for the Mustangs, but stands as the program's all-time leader with 20 shutouts.

The back line is led by captain center back Ryan Spence, who was a Daktronics second-team All-America last season. Spence is joined at center back by junior Kelly Gill and the duo is flanked by junior Dean Lovegrove and senior Landon Fruge' on the outside.

The Mustangs opened the season with 12-straight before suffering consecutive scoreless draws at Incarnate Word and St. Edward's before reeling off their current six-match winning streak.

Chico State (15-6) was the surprise No. 1 seed out of the West Region after dropping consecutive matches for the second time in 2010 falling 1-0 in the regular season finale to Cal State-Stanislaus and 3-0 to Cal State-Dominguez HIlls in the opening round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

The Wildcats rebounded to claim an NCAA II West Region first-round win 2-0 over No. 17 Sonoma State on Nov. 12 before tallying two goals in the final four minutes to overcome No. 7 Grand Canyon (Ariz.) 2-0 for the regional championship.

Chico State opened ths season strong by going 8-1 then suffered losses in three of four matches before closing strong to finish as CCAA North Division champions.

The Wildcats are led by junior forward Ferid Celosmanovic with 13 goals, while junior forward Chris Akwaja adds nine goals and sophomore forward Tyson Crim has three goals and a team-high six assists.

"They have three go-to guys in front of a pretty solid group," Elder said.

Chico State, who scores 1.65 goals goals and allows 0.99 goals per match, is 11-2 on its home pitch this season.