Oct. 10, 2009

Final Stats

BERKELEY - The California field hockey team boasted a number of season highs on the day, as it defeated UC Davis, 6-1, on Saturday at Maxwell Family Field to snap a three-game losing streak. Sophomore Erin Magill scored twice and junior Natalie Nurnberg finished the day with five points. Cal improves to 4-8, 2-1 on the season, while the Aggies drop to 3-10, 0-3.

Nurnberg got things rolling for the Golden Bears, scoring the first goal of the game in the first five minutes. Nurnberg was deep in the circle and beat the keeper to her right. The score was the sixth of the season for Nurnberg. Redshirt freshman Claire Dougherty tallied the assist. Nurnberg got her first assist of the afternoon when redshirt freshman Megan Shimojima recorded Cal's second goal of the day in the 20th minute. It was the second straight game in which Shimojima has scored.

"This game went the way that I had hoped," head coach Shellie Onstead said. "We wanted to get some comfort on our home field and get a groove going. We've done pretty well scoring early in games and then we kind of settled back. To be able to get on top of it was good. We're back on the road this week. We kind of got to see a little bit of the fruits of our labor today, and hopefully we'll take some of this confidence on our road trip."

Ten minutes later, junior Megan Psyllos notched her first goal of the season to give Cal a commanding 3-0 lead.

After taking a 3-0 lead into the half, the Bears pounced on the Aggies at the outset of the second half. Magill converted on her first penalty corner in the 37th minute to increase Cal's lead to four. Magill scored her second goal on a penalty corner in the 55th minute. Nurnberg and freshman Deanna Kennedy earned the assists for both goals. Magill and Nurnberg are tied for the team lead in goals with six.

UC Davis got on the board in the 51st minute. Liz Siemion deflected as pass in the circle from Lindsey Valadez past Cal goalkeeper Haleh Nourani for the lone Aggie goal. Nourani played the second half only and notched a save. Sophomore Maddie Hand posted a clean sheet in the first half.

In the 65th minute, junior Sophie Sproats scored her first collegiate goal. Sproats took a shot in the circle that was deflected off of a UC Davis defender and into the cage.

"I haven't scored in four years, so it was interesting," Sproats said. "It wasn't the best shot, but hey, it's a goal and it counts. It doesn't happen too often so that was pretty cool."

It was a season-high afternoon in a number of different categories for Cal. The season highs included goals (6), assists (6), shots (28), shots on goal (17) and penalty corners (15).

"Coming off of our last trip, we were kind of beaten down," Sproats said. "We weren't scoring goals. We decided to try to use all of our frustration as motivation. We tried to use that in a positive way, and we did. We had 28 shots, so I really think our frustration turned into something positive on the field. It's so good to win on our home field."

The Bears outshot the Aggies, 28-5, and earned 15 corners to UC Davis' four. Magill led all players with eight shots and five shots on goal.

The Bears hit the road for a trip to Ohio to face Miami of Ohio on Friday, Oct. 16, at 11 a.m. (PT). Cal's final appearance of the season at Maxwell Family Field will be against Pacific on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 1 p.m.