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Make it Eight: No. 1 Cal Poly Manages UC-Santa Cruz 13-4 to Advance to 2010 National Collegiate Club Title Game
TUCSON, Ariz. -- California Polytechnic State University will appear in its eighth title game from among the last nine National Collegiate Club Championship finales as the No. 1-ranked Mustangs raced past No. 5 UC-Santa Cruz 13-4 in the semifinals of the 2010 tournament.
A five-time National Champion with previous titles in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, the Mustangs will look to equal the 2003-05 teams as the only women's clubs to capture three consecutive National Collegiate Club titles. In the history of the championship, the Mustangs appeared in seven of the past eight title games before the 2010 tournament defeating Michigan State University (2003), Dartmouth College (2004-05), the University of Oregon (2008) and the University of Notre Dame (2009) for championships, while falling to Michgian State (2002) and Fresno State University (2007).
Against the Banana Slugs, Cal Poly overcame a slow first period in which neither team could find an answer for their competition's defense with five goals in the second period, five more in the third and three in the fourth to roll to the nine-goal victory.
Overall, the margin of victory is one off the Mustangs 2009 semifinal spread against the University of Pennsylvania as the Mustangs handled the Quakers 14-4 at the University of California-Davis on the way to the 2009 title.
Katelyn Wentz Fitzgerald (Jr., Santa Barbara, Calif.) opened the scoring for the reigning national champions 59 seconds into the second period before 2008 and 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship Most Valuable Player and Player of the Game Sarah Ur (Jr., Lompoc, Calif.) deposited the first of her game-high six markers to push the margin out to 2-0 at the 4:00 mark.
UC-Santa Cruz halved the margin with a tally by Nila Ward (Sr., Santa Monica, Calif.) with 3:08 remaining in the half, but the Mustangs responded three-fold with twine denters by Wentz Fitzgerald (2:20), Casey Clark (Fr., Agoura Hills, Calif.) (1:50) and Ur (57 seconds) to carry a 5-1 lead into intermission and generate all the offense the team would need to return to the championship game.
The margin exploded to seven goals by the end of the third period led by pairs of scoring shots from Ur and Clark with a solo rocket by Kate Warner (So., Lafayette, Calif.) to push the margin to an insurmountable amount with seven minutes to play.
Cal Poly tacked on some insurance in the fourth period with back-to-back cage-rockers by Ur courtesy a five-meter penalty shot at 3:35 and a natural goal with 2:47 to play to make it 12-3. Banana Slug Mollie Chadwick (Jr., Mission Beach, Calif.) finished out her team's day with a shot-and-score with 107 seconds (1:47) showing on the clock to pull UC-Santa Cruz within eight at 12-4.
Kristy Avis (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) tacked on another score for the Mustangs with 1:02 left in regulation for the nine-goal victory and the potential for a history making Sunday afternoon in the desert.
Goalie Noelle Wondergem (Jr., Arroyo Grande, Calif.) finished with 10 saves for Cal Poly with five stops in both the first and second halves, while Rachel McCracken (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) blocked eight shots for the Banana Slugs.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 5 University of California-Santa Cruz | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | 4 |
| No. 1 California Polytechnic State University | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | -- | 13 |
Cal Poly Goals: Sarah Ur (6); Casey Clark (3); Katelyn Wentz Fitzgerald (2); Kristy Avis; Kate Warner
UCSC Goals: Nila Ward (2); Mollie Chadwick; Laura Rudolph
Saves: Cal Poly - Noelle Wondergem (10) ; UCSC - Rachel McCracken (8)
Exclusions: Cal Poly - 4 ; UCSC - 9
Advantage Opportunities: Cal Poly - 3-for-9 ; UCSC - 0-for-4
Sprints: Cal Poly - 1-for-4 ; UCSC - 3-for-4
