Nov. 2, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Behind two second half strikes the Pacific soccer team booked its passage into the Big West Championship tournament next week with a 2-0 victory over UC Davis on Sunday, November 2. The victory solidified Pacific's fourth place finish in the Big West as the Tigers completed the regular season at 10-7-1 overall and 4-3-1 (13 points) in conference play. The Aggies loss drops them to 7-7-3 overall and 2-5-1 (seven points) in the Big West.
In the final game of the regular season for both teams, the Tigers took advantage of the friendly confines of Stagg Memorial Stadium to secure their fourth conference victory of the season and fourth place in the Big West.
After a physical battle in the first half sent both teams into their locker rooms scoreless through 45 minutes, the intensity of the contest only picked up further in the final 45 minutes as both teams made a push for the postseason. With 36 combined fouls and five yellow cards handed out in the contest, it was two set pieces off free kicks that decided the contest in favor of the Tigers.
With a foul called near midfield in the 64th minute of play, freshman Alex Topp (San Diego, Calif.) took the free kick from the center line, sending a lofted ball into the box towards her awaiting teammates. With the ball in the air, freshman Angelica Figueroa (Linden, Calif.) flicked the free ball towards the far post where freshman Kristina Wavomba (Encinitas, Calif.) was crashing on the play. With the ball up, Wavomba wasted no time putting the Tigers up by one as she headed in her team-leading eighth goal of the season. The assists were credited to Figueroa, her fourth, and Topp, her second.
With the weight of a scoreless game off of their shoulders, the Tigers pushed the pace forward until hitting pay dirt for a second time just 10 minutes later.
In a similar fashion to their first goal, the Tigers took advantage of another free kick, this time just inside of the Aggies' side of the field. This time sending Topp forward into the attack, it was a trio of sophomores who took control of the goal as sophomore Kylee Ah Choy (Mililani, Hawaii) took the free kick for the Tigers, sending a lofted ball into the box in search of her teammates. On the other end of the ball, sophomore Kim Hargrave (La Palma, Calif.) flicked the free kick towards goal where sophomore Sammi Teramae (Kapolei, Hawaii) was waiting to finish off the play. The goal was Teramae's third of the season while Hargrave and Ah Choy were each credited with their third assist of the year.
For the game the Tigers outshot the Aggies 15-to-8 throughout the afternoon, forcing Sarah Peters, UC Davis' 'keeper, to make six saves. Redshirt freshman Amanda McNab (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) produced two saves on the afternoon while the Tigers' defense headlined by Ah Choy, sophomore Chyanne Alejado (Kapolei, Hawaii) and junior Chelsea Gomes (Coto de Caza, Calif.) held the Aggies in check for most of the day and halted a late rally by UC Davis.
Senior Laura King (Livermore, Calif.), playing her final home game for the Tigers and playing her first game in six contests, fired off a team-high four shots on the day with one on goal. King missed the previous five contests due to injury, but came back to play 54 minutes on senior day to help the Tigers secure their spot in the postseason tournament.
With the victory, the Tigers will head to Long Beach State to take on the No. 1 seed and Big West regular season champion 49ers in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament. The game time has yet to be determined. The appearance in the postseason will mark the first time in three seasons the Tigers have advanced on to the Big West tournament.
