March 4, 2007
Santa Cruz, Calif. - Behind a 15 goal day by freshman Sarah Harris (Cape Town, South Africa), the Pacific Tigers improved their record to 5-8 on the season with a 14-7 victory over Occidental and a 19-15 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday, March 4th at the UC Santa Cruz Slug Fest Tournament.
In game one of the day against Occidental, Pacific broke open a 2-2 game after one period of play by outscoring Occidental 4-1 in the second to take a 6-3 halftime lead. Pacific pushed the lead even further by outscoring the Southern California based Tigers 8-4 the rest of the way to pick up the 14-7 victory.
Harris scored six goals in the win, while juniors Kellie Fletcher (Roseville, Calif.) and Virginia McConnell (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), as well as freshmen Jessica Safir (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Kelsey Morino (Corona, Calif.) each added two goals apiece. Junior 'keeper Jocelyn Gray (Strathmore, Alberta, Canada) collected 13 blocks in the cage.
In game two, the Tigers and Otters were locked in a shootout that went into the halftime break tied at 8-8. CS Monterey Bay outscored the Tigers in the third period 6-5 to take a one goal lead at 14-13 into the fourth, but Pacific fought back. Coach Megan Thomson's crew outscored the Otters 6-1 in the final period to post their fifth victory of the year with a final score of 19-15.
Harris and Fletcher combined for 16 of the Tigers 19 goals, with Harris scoring a career-high nine and Fletcher adding a career-high seven. Gray also had a career-high, recording 16 blocks in the cage for the Tigers, who posted their first back-to-back victories since February 26th and 27th of 2005 when the Tigers defeated Redlands and Santa Clara.
Pacific will next be in action on March 9th as they travel to No. 3 USC. Opening sprint is scheduled for 5:00pm in Los Angeles at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
Occidental: 2-1-1-3 = 7
Pacific: 2-4-3-5 = 14
Goals:
Occidental: N/A
Pacific: Harris 6, (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45), Fletcher 2 (23, 24), McConnell 2 (20, 21), Morino 2 (9, 10), Safir 2 (4, 5)
Blocks: Gray (PAC) 13
Pacific: 4-4-5-6 = 19
CS Monterey Bay: 5-3-6-1 = 15
Goals:
CS Monterey Bay: N/A
Pacific: Harris 9 (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54), Fletcher 7 (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31), McConnell 2 (22, 23), Kutac (11)
Blocks: Gray (PAC) 16
