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SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26, 2011
Wildcats win 2, sit pretty atop CCAA North Division GAME 1
Allie Colosky
Chico State
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SPORTS EDITOR
Cal State East Bay
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With hopes for postseason action slipping away in a packed conference, the Chico State women’s soccer team stormed to the top of the conference, winning its last two home games of the season. The Wildcats thrashed Cal State East Bay 4-1 Friday night before routing Cal State Monterey Bay 1-0 Sunday. The two wins put the ’Cats’ record at 8-5-3 overall and 8-4-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. They tie with Sonoma State at the top of the North Division heading into their final two regular season games. “They are finally starting to realize the offensive opportunities they have,” head coach Kim Sutton said. “We had very few chances and we finished them.” In only her third game of her career playing at forward, junior Shelby Dunlap scored her second goal of the season off a cross from senior forward Lisa Webster. Webster carried the ball up the far side of the field with finesse before crossing the ball to Dunlap, who drilled it into the far post. The ’Cats struck again before halftime when they put away a ball that bounced around dangerously in the Pioneer’s penalty box before Webster got a foot on it and blasted it in from five yards out. After the half, Chico State continued to roll when
GAME 2
THE ORION • FRANK REBELO
KICKING COMPETITION Junior forward Melissa Pease avoids a slide tackle in the Wildcats 4-1 win against Cal State East Bay Friday. The ’Cats are tied with rival Sonoma State for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division after sweeping their final two home games. freshman midfielder Megan Tabler took control of a cross from senior forward Dara Karnofsky. It was her first collegiate goal. “It’s exhilarating,” Karnofsky said. “We’ve been connecting really well in practice so I was just trying to relax.” Sophomore midfielder Scotie Walker sealed the ’Cats’ offensive run with a chip over the goalie from 15 yards out.
Sophomore defender Carly Singer started the attack with an aggressive run from the back before placing a long ball perfectly at Walker’s feet. Singer’s aggressive ball control set off multiple attacking opportunities for the ’Cats. “My style of play is not just bombing it from the back, but playing to feet and switching the points of attack,” Singer said. The Pioneers stole the
shutout from Brianna Furner with a goal in the 88th minute, but Chico State walked away triumphantly nonetheless. On Sunday, the Chico State women’s soccer team extended its winning streak to Senior Day by trouncing Cal State Monterey Bay. The ’Cats five seniors – Webster, Karnofsky, Blake Lopes, Molly Downtain and Kasey Wall – were honored in a pregame ceremony.
Chico State
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Cal State Monterey Bay
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With plenty of emotions running around, it was important to focus on the game, rather than getting hyped, Downtain said. “It’s a bittersweet weekend,” she said. “Glad we got two wins, but it is a sad moment with my last game on this field.” The lone goal for Chico State against the Otters came when Webster beat a couple of defenders before sliding a pass through to freshman Tabler outside the penalty box. Tabler took a couple dribbles before a slide tackle from Monterey took her down inside the box. “That was a great move by Tabler,” Sutton said. “It was a fantastic possession on her part.” Singer took the penalty kick and the Otters didn’t stand a chance after that. The ’Cats fi nish out the regular season on the road this weekend with a push to hold sole possession of fi rst place in the CCAA North Division. They kickoff at 12:30 p.m. Friday against Humboldt State and then again at 2 p.m. Sunday against rival Sonoma State.
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PAWS UP Sophomore outside hitter Alex Shurtz hit a seasonhigh 16 kills in Friday’s match against Cal Poly Pomona. The Wildcats downed the Broncos in three sets.
After a two-game losing streak, the Wildcat volleyball team bounced back on the road and split two matches against Cal Poly Pomona and San Francisco State. On the road the ’Cats are 11-4. Their record at Acker Gym is 5-2. The ’Cats started off at Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night with a sweep of three sets. Assistant coach Carson Lowden said that after a tough two games at home against Humboldt State and Sonoma State the previous weekend, the team came into practice ready to fi x things and do better on this road trip. Junior Jessica Leek led the team in kills Friday night with nine, followed by sophomore Alex Shurtz and junior Makenzie Snyder who both had eight. Leek also had three service aces and Snyder had two. “It was definitely a back and forth game,” Lowden said. The first set was a battle between Chico and Pomona with the ’Cats eventually winning the set 25-22. The ’Cats fell behind early in the second set, but that was put to an end with kills from Leek, freshman Lindsay Quigley and Snyder, who also added a service ace. Good plays by the ’Cats,
GAME 2
GAME 1 Chico State
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Chico State
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Cal Poly Pomona
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San Francisco State
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paired with nine errors by Pomona, put the ’Cats back on top 14-8. In the second set, Leek and freshman Lauren Orozco each had a pair of service aces and the ’Cats claimed that set with a score of 25-15. After falling behind early in the third set, the ’Cats battled their way to a 26-24 win and a sweep of the game. “We really played well as a team and had confidence that we were going to win,” Snyder said. It wasn’t one of the prettier performances for the team, but overall it was a good team win, Lowden said. “We worked pretty well as a team,” Quigley said. The sweep at Pomona completed the ’Cats’ sweep of the season series against the Broncos. On Saturday the ’Cats took on the Gators of San Francisco State, where Chico ultimately fell in four sets. In Saturday’s game, Shurtz racked up a season-high 16 kills. Snyder and Leek contributed 13 kills of their own. Junior Sable Villaescusa had 43 assists on the night, and Orozco racked up 18 digs. The ’Cats fell behind early in the first set but came back
with the help of a service ace by Villaescusa and kills from Shurtz, Quigley and Snyder. The Gators came back to take the lead after going back and forth with the ’Cats and ended up taking the first set 25-22. Again, in the second set, San Francisco came out with an early 7-1 lead. The ’Cats kept battling throughout the set, but the Gators ended up claiming the set with a score of 25-22. Chico took the early lead in the third set and with the score tied at 22 the ’Cats took control and took down a 25-22 win. The Gators took control of the fourth set and held the lead throughout. The score of the final set was 18-25. The ’Cats were down big in the fourth set and waited too long to go on a run of their own, Lowden said. “It was a tough game,” Quigley said. “They played really well.” Defense was a struggle and they let a lot of balls drop that they would normally get to, Snyder said. Earlier in the season Chico beat the Gators in four sets at home in Acker Gym. The loss to San Francisco drops Chico to fourth place in California Collegiate Athletic
FILE PHOTO • JOSH ZACK
Association standings. “The little things have been letting us down,” Lowden said. As a team, they have a good offense and defense, so the focus going into the upcoming games will be to focus on perfecting the little things, Lowden said. “We really want to win in
ULTIMATE
’Cats Frisbee holds ultimate tournament ULTIMATE WIN [left] Chico State liberal studies major Giulia Fanti attempts a throw around UC Berkeley’s Linnea Delucchi [right] during the ultimate Frisbee tournament held in Chico over the weekend.
our home gym,” Snyder said. The ’Cats are at home this weekend with big games against nationally ranked teams UC San Diego and Cal State San Bernardino. Both games are in Acker Gym and are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Sarah Goad can be reached at sgoad@theorion.com
CROSS-COUNTRY: Wildcats pack top 10 continued from B1
said about his conference title. “But it was more of a mutual decision.” Being a junior and the oldest of the three, Sherrod said that Chavez told him it was his turn to go get something for himself. “So it’s like 100 meters to go and he just looks at me and he just says, ‘Hey you want to take it?’” Sherrod said. After that Sherrod took the lead and kept it, clocking in at 25 minutes, 39 seconds. Chavez and Sanchez ran in to the finish right next to him at 25:39.1 and 25:39.8 – tenths of seconds behind. “I could have been third, Johnny could have been first and Isaac could have been second, and it wouldn’t have made any difference,” he said. Senior Joseph Rivera was the fourth scorer for Chico, crossing the tape at 25:43.5. Sophomore Dayne Gradone began the line, followed by senior Miles Dunbar, sophomore Alfonso Cisneros, seniors Josh Linen and Joey Kochlacs, and freshman Jeremy Brummitt. Sarah Bohannon can be reached at
THE ORION • KEVIN LEE
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DARA KARNOFSKY senior forward
Allie Colosky can be reached at
Volleyball splits weekend series, falls to fourth place Sarah Goad
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It’s exhilarating. We’ve been connecting really well in practice so I was just trying to relax.
sbohannon@theorion.com