Cal Defense Holds Off High-Scoring Navy
from press release
BERKELEY -- Tara Arolla and Gina Holslag scored
three points each and the Golden Bears played strong defense to
lead California to a 13-6 win over high-scoring Navy on Thursday
afternoon at Witter Rugby Field.
Arolla, a junior attacker, scored a hat trick and Holslag, a
sophomore attacker, notched two goals and one assist for the Bears,
whose defense - including junior Tori Harrison, junior Melissa
Sheehan and freshman Grace Parente - also earned kudos.
"I'm really proud of the girls," Cal head coach Theresa Sherry
said. "We've been waiting a long time to see them put together 60
minutes. We've been talking about the game as four quarters,
breaking down the game into little pieces and really controlling
each moment.
"Navy is a very good team. They're putting up a lot of points. Some
of their attackers lead the nation in points and goals. This is a
very important game to see what we were made of. This is also a
very physical team, and I thought our girls were tough today. On
all ends of the field, everybody contributed today. We did a great
job on defense, shutting down some of their main threats, and on
the attack, picking our moments on when to go to goal."
Coming into the match, Navy boasted the nation's leaders in points
in Jasmine DePompeo and Aimee Gennaro, who each had scored 40
points prior to Thursday. While Gennaro collected two goals and one
assist, the Bears shut out DePompeo, who tallied zero points and
zero shots. Cal also held Gennaro to two goals under her average.
The freshman attacker, who had been tied for the most goals in the
country with 32, ranked fifth in goals per game at 4.00 heading
into the game.
"Tori Harrison did a great job," Sherry said. "Tori and Grace
Parente kind of matched up on their top players, and then with our
middies getting back on defense - they were doing a lot of work for
us. We were proud of that."
The Mids missed Caitlin Mandarin Hill for the second straight
game. The senior attacker led the nation in assists with 19 prior
to Thursday,
Navy got on the scoreboard first when Katrina Nietsch, who wound up
with a hat trick, converted an eight-meter goal at 6:29. Goals by
sophomore midfielder Megan Takacs at 8:05 and 8:42 gave the Bears a
2-1 lead. Holslag, assisted by Harrison, tacked on her first strike
at 10:43 to make the score 3-1.
Gennaro scored the first of her two goals at 13:34 to cut the lead
to one at 3-2. But Cal scored three of the last four goals - from
freshman midfielder Paige Gasparino at 14:24, junior midfielder
Vail Horn at 20:40 and freshman midfielder Amelia Burke at 25:29 -
of the first half to take a 6-3 lead into halftime. Gennaro
collected Navy's goal during that stretch by converting a
free-position shot at 19:54.
Arolla scored her first goal at 32:52 and then Nietsch hit the back
of the net at 9:06 to make the score 7-4. Sophomore midfielder
Melissa Humphrey scored at 40:44 and Nietsch struck again at 41:27
to leave the Bears with an 8-5 advantage.
That three-goal margin was the closest the Mids would come to Cal
the rest of the game, as the Bears scored five of the final six
goals of the game. Arolla collected her second at 44:37, Humphrey
tallied her second with an eight-meter goal at 49:35, Arolla
completed her hat trick at 50:16, Holslag hit paydirt at 54:45 and
Parente scored the first goal of her Cal career at 59:52 to hand
the Bears their 13-6 victory.
Navy collected its last goal when Gennaro assisted Danielle
Vivonnetto at 50:41.
Cal hits the road Friday and plays Ohio State at 10 a.m. PT on
Sunday, March 20, in Columbus, Ohio.
