Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific Tigers field hockey team lost 1-0 to the California Golden Bears in their first home game since September 27.  The Tigers controlled the ball for much of the game, managing four shots on goal in the last four minutes of the first half before peppering California's Kori Griswold in the second.  In all, Pacific ended with nine shots and allowed just five.

With the loss, Pacific falls to 7-6 on the season and 1-1 in the America East Conference.  In October, Pacific has alternated wins and losses, going 2-2 thus far.  California is now 9-4 overall and 4-0 in conference.

The Golden Bears scored the game's only goal at 26:56 in the first half.  Nicole Henriksson sent in a cross that made it past Laura Pujade at the mouth of goal and found Janaye Sakkas at the back post.  Sakkas sent a shot into the back of the net that just evaded a diving Kelsey Gulledge, who barely missed making an impressive defensive save.  The goal was Sakkas' fifth of the season.

After "start[ing] a little soft," in the words of Coach Andy Smith, the Tigers kicked their offense into gear at the 30-minute mark.  Smith was happy with the attack during that time, saying that "we created in four minutes what they did in 35" as the half wound to a close, with three corners and four shots in that time.  The Tigers allowed just one shot by California after the goal and just three shots on goal all day.

Pacific's offense kept at it in the second half, pinning California in their own end for much of the 35 minutes.  The Tigers "had four or five Grade A scoring chances [that] we didn't take advantage of," said Smith, as Pacific had a two-on-one and three-on-one break snuffed out by Cal's defense.

Nicole Laskosky came close to creating a goal for Pacific when she stole the ball away from a defender to create a two-on-one break.  Laskosky attempted to feed a pass to Rylee Comeau streaking toward the goal, only to have California's last defender get her stick down and knock the ball away.  Similarly, a through ball from the Tigers on their three-on-one break just eluded the stick of Ali Campos, skipping out of bounds instead.

As the game inched ever closer to its conclusion, Pacific pulled Pujade from net and went with an extra attacker with 2:05 left in the game.  The extra player helped the Tigers keep possession of the ball for the most part but two timely clearances the length of the field by California ate away at the time and kept Pacific off the scoreboard.

Next on the schedule for Pacific will be their second of four straight conference home games when Stanford comes to visit on Friday, October 16.  The game will be play at 3:00 pm.  The Tigers will also play UC Davis that weekend, taking on the Aggies at 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 18.

Make sure to follow Pacific field hockey on Twitter with the username @PacificTigersFH and on Instagram at pacifictigersfh.