Sept. 5, 2010

Final Stats

BERKELEY - Following a defensive first half, the California field hockey team scored four times in the second half to defeat UC Davis, 5-1, in the NorPac Conference opener Sunday afternoon at Maxwell Family Field. The Golden Bears earned their first win of the season, and improved to 1-2 on the year, while the Aggies fell to 0-3. Sophomore Claire Dougherty and freshman Andrea Earle each scored twice for Cal.

"It was great to get the first win in conference," head coach Shellie Onstead said. "After a little bit of a shaky start, I think we got things on a really good roll. We made some changes at halftime now that Rosa (Stabler) is fully healthy. We were changing things to figure out a good place for her. What's good for us is we have a bunch of players who are interchangeable, and that's going to become really powerful as we go forward. We thought Rosa was really outstanding throughout the game."

The Bears were finally about to put a tally on the board late in the first half, after both teams were playing tight defensively. Earle scored her first goal of the season when she tipped in a loose ball amongst a crowd in front of the cage in the 30th minute. UC Davis tied the match at one shortly after halftime on a two-on-one. In the 38th minute, Marissa Hughes tipped in a pass from Emily Mecke that beat Cal keeper Maddie Hand to the far post.

Almost six minutes later, Cal scored the eventual game-winning goal when senior midfielder Megan Psyllos slapped a shot off of a penalty corner past Aggie keeper Lauren Sawvelle and into the cage. It was Psyllos' third goal of the campaign.

Dougherty scored her two goals back-to-back later in the second half. For both goals, she was positioned perfectly in front of the cage. She tipped a pass from freshman Shannon Elmitt for her first goal, and shortly after that, knocked in a loose rebound for her second goal of the game and her third of the season.

Elmitt also notched a defensive save against UC Davis.

In the 63rd minute, Earle put the icing on the cake for the Bears' first win of the season when she scored her second goal. Fellow freshman Allie Swartz gained the assist.

The Bears outshot UC Davis, 17-7. Hand made two saves for Cal.

Cal ventures to Indiana and Louisville for a three-game road trip next week. The first match of the trip will be against the No. 17 Hoosiers on Thursday, Sept. 9, at 12:30 p.m. (PT).