2008 Woodie Awards
Women's soccer opens with pair of wins
Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: Sports
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See video of Saturday's game at the bottom of this page
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With opening season wins over Notre Dame de Namur University and Academy of Art University, the women's soccer team showed glimpses of becoming a scoring machine and a team searching for its perfect fit.
The Wildcats maintained a dominating presence on the field over the weekend, outscoring their opponents 7-0 and tremendously outshooting them 40 to four. But the question that remains is how consistent the squad can be.
The Wildcats begin the season nationally ranked 24th by the NCAA Division II polls, and new players add to team depth and versatility.
In spring, junior forward Brittney Doty transferred from Division I Arizona State, where she played the past two years, according to Chico State athletics. Her ability was apparent on the field as she commanded the Wildcats' offensive game into scoring opportunities and notched the first goal of the season for the team.
"Bree does a great job, really happy for her. That's been something she's been immensely frustrated at - wanting to get a goal," said head coach Kim Sutton. "But you see her effort and she really tries to make great plays every time she gets the ball."
Sophomore Mallory Maughan also transferred from a Division I program, the University of Hawaii.
Thursday's season opener against Notre Dame de Namur showed a team executing accurate passes, crosses and maneuverability. The Wildcats translated this into more scoring opportunities while maintaining ball possession for most of the game. They coasted to a 5-0 win.
Saturday's 2-0 win against the Academy of Art did not come easily for the 'Cats. A goal by junior forward Emese Grek in the seventh minute of the first half gave the Wildcats an early lead.
"They were legitimately a good team" Sutton said. "We got an early goal, so we kind of sat back a little, but we didn't play our best. We could have made it a little easier on ourselves."
The game quickly turned physical in the second half as the Urban Knights' frustration at the lack of offensive penetration became apparent.
The Urban Knights' Olivia Dupon was given a yellow card three minutes into the second half for a strong slide at Grek, getting their legs tangled. Grek was also given a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct in response to the strong slide.
The game got out of hand when Urban Knights' Morgan LeFever threw a wild elbow, narrowly missing Wildcat sophomore Kelsey Ikemoto's face after the two battled for air advantage. LeFever was immediately expelled and given a red card, while Ikemoto was issued a yellow card for the back contact.
"Both teams were getting a little anxious, and things started to get a little crazy," said senior forward Melissa Lindsay. "But once the ref settled it down, we started to focus back on our game and got off the passes we needed."
Lindsay connected with the ball at the top of the box to score Chico State's second goal, ending any chances of a late goal by the Urban Knights.
"It was nice to get two up there, you can relax a little bit," Lindsay said.
It was important to settle things down and focus on outsmarting the Urban Knights, she said.
The Wildcats will follow up their two wins by traveling to Washington to play St. Martin's University and Seattle Pacific University over the weekend.
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