'Cats Set For NorPac Tourney Opener Against California

STANFORD, Calif. – Coming off two conference wins and seeded third in the east, Davidson field hockey is set to face the West division's second seed, California, in the opening round of the NorPac Championships on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. PST (9:30 p.m. EST) on Stanford's Varsity Field Hockey Turf.

Live stats and additional information can be found at the NorPac Tournament Central.

Tonight the NorPac will announce the individual award recipients at the annual NorPac Conference Awards Banquet, held this year at Stanford University's Arrillaga Family Sports Center.

Davidson finished the regular season with a 6-11 overall record, and went 2-4 in the NorPac East division. The Wildcats will face a strong challenge from California, as the Golden Bears were receiving votes in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association Top 20 poll. California went 6-10 overall, 4-2 in the NorPac West during the regular season.

The teams had two common opponents in Indiana and UC Davis during the regular season. Both squads lost to Indiana as the 'Cats fell, 6-1 and Cal lost, 1-0. However, both were victorious over UC Davis as the 'Cats won, 4-2, and Cal won a pair of meetings, 6-1 and 5-3, respectively.

Scouting the Wildcats: Davidson enters the tournament on a two-game win streak over conference opponents. The 'Cats rolled to a 5-2 win over Appalachian State on Oct. 24 and rallied late to defeat Longwood, the East's second seed, in their final regular season outing. The wins over Longwood and Appalachian State avenged one-goal road losses earlier in the season. Junior F Ellie Szykowny was named as the NorPac East Offensive Player of the Week after assisting on the game-tying goal before scoring the game-winner against Longwood.

Juniors Jennie Mostellar and Clare Perry hooked up for four of Davidson's nine goals scored in the last two games. Mostellar scored a combined three goals and two assists, while Perry totaled two goals and three assists. The duo is tied for the team scoring lead with 12 points. Mostellar has scored a team leading five goals along with two assists. Perry leads the team with six assists and has scored three goals. Sophomore Hannah English has tallied nine points (4g, 1a).

The 'Cats rank fourth in the conference with 30 goals scored in 17 games.

Two-time NorPac East Rookie of the Week Finley Amato has also totaled nine points on four goals and an assist. The 'Cats boasted some of the strongest contributions from freshmen in the East, as Davidson freshmen ultimately claimed five of the 10 weekly rookie honors. Annie Evans also won twice, while Brit Donaldson was recognized once.

Senior GK Christa Goeke earned the wins in her last two outings making a combined 11 saves. Goeke has posted a 3.31 goals against average and a .645 save percentage this season. She ranks third all-time at Davidson in minutes (3120) and saves (330).

Scouting the Golden Bears: California boasts two of the NorPac's top goal-scorers in Natalie Nurnberg and Erin Magill. Nurnberg ranks fifth in the conference with 21 points on seven goals and seven assists, and Magill is seventh with 16 points on seven goals and two assists. Both were recipients of the NorPac West Offensive Player of the Week award during the season. Cal ranks second in the conference with 31 goals scored in 16 games.

Lisa Lohre is among the conference's top defenders, tied for second in the NorPac with six defensive saves, and was a three-time NorPac West Defensive Player of the Week honoree during the season. Goalkeeper Maddie Hand has posted a 2.63 goals against average and a .627 save percentage.

California was the only team to deal nationally-ranked Stanford a conference loss this season, winning 4-3 at home. The Cardinal were ranked 13th at the time. However, Cal was shutout in losses to No. 19 American, No. 1 Maryland and No. 18 Northwestern, and fell to then-No. 12 Stanford, 4-2 on Varsity Turf.

The Golden Bears enter the match after a long layoff. They last played on Oct. 25, defeating UC Davis on the road.

The Series: Davidson will be looking for their first win against Cal, as the Golden Bears have won the first 10 matches.

The Schedule: The NorPac Championships will begin Thursday with four interdivisional first round games. The winners of those games will play semifinals matches at 1:30 pm and 4:00 on Friday. Those contests are sandwiched between a pair consolation matches at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The championship game will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Depending on the outcomes of the first round matches, Davidson and California will play either Radford or UC Davis.

Radford and tournament-host Stanford won their respective NorPac divisional crowns and will be the top seeds. The Highlanders and the 15th-ranked Cardinal both finished with 5-1 records in their divisions. California and Longwood finished second with 4-2 records with Pacific (3-3) and Davidson (2-4) holding down the third seeds. Newcomer UC Davis (0-6) and Appalachian State (1-5) round out the field in fourth place.

The winner of the championship game will head to the winner of the America East Conference in a NCAA play-in game on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Tournament Schedule (All times PST)

Thursday, Nov. 5
Game 1: No. 2E Longwood vs. No. 3W Pacific, 11:00 a.m.
Game 2: No. 1W Stanford vs. No. 4E Appalachian State 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 1E Radford vs. No.4W UC Davis 4:00
Game 4: No. 2W California vs. No. 3E Davidson 6:30

Friday, Nov. 6
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (consolation), 11:00 am
Game 6: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner (semifinals), 1:30 p.m.
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner (semifinals), 4:00
Game 8: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser (consolation), 6:30

Saturday, Nov. 7
Game 9: Game 6 loser vs. Game 7 loser (Third Place), 11:00 a.m.
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner (Championship), 1:30 p.m.

Schedule

'Cats Set For NorPac Tourney Opener Against California

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