No. 14 Cal Hosts Davidson at 3 p.m. on Saturday

Oct. 7, 2008

This Week
The No. 14 California field hockey team (8-2, 4-0 NorPac Conference) looks to extend its conference lead when it hosts Davidson (3-9, 0-2 NorPac) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, at Maxwell Family Field. The game was originally scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday. However, Davidson's unforeseen travel difficulties necessitated pushing the game back to 3 p.m. The Golden Bears are coming off a 3-0 blanking of NorPac foe Pacific on Oct. 4 and have won two straight games ahead of their match with the visiting Wildcats. The Bears lead the NorPac with the only unbeaten record in the conference and claims the top overall record in the NorPac so far.

NCAA Tabs Cal with No. 19 RPI
Cal's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is currently rated at No. 19 among NCAA Division I women's field hockey teams. A team's RPI is one of the factors that the NCAA considers when selecting and seeding teams for the NCAA tournament. The Bears' ranking is higher than all but two of their 2008 opponents. The two teams that have beaten Cal this year have higher RPIs: No. 8 Michigan State and No. 10 Drexel.

Bears Move up 1 Spot in STX/NFHCA National Rankings
Cal is ranked 14th with 264 points in the STX/National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll after its win over Pacific. Head coach Shellie Onstead's squad is the only NorPac team and the only West Coast team in the coaches' poll.

Bears in the National Stats
Cal is ranked in the top 10 of several national statistical categories, including penalty corners per game (4th with 4), assists per game (5th, 3.5), goals-against average (5th, 1.03), scoring margin (7th, 2.16), points per game (8th, 10.3), scoring average (9th, 3.19) and goals per game (9th, 3.4). The Bears are also 12th in winning percentage (.80) and 14th in save percentage (.771).

Individually, Cal senior defender Rachel Moffitt is sixth in assists per game (1.0), senior goalkeeper Kelly Knoche is eighth in GAA (1.16) and 24th in save percentage (.756), and senior forward Kellie York and senior midfielder/forward Andrea Lo are tied at 32nd in assists per game (.60).

Scouting the Wildcats
Davidson brings a three-game losing streak, with losses to Monmouth (3-0 on Sept. 28), Appalachian State (3-2 after penalty strokes on Oct. 1) and Radford (5-0 on Oct. 4), to Berkeley. Senior defender Tyler Kirkland leads the Wildcats in scoring with eight points (3 goals, 2 assists). Ginny Sutton is in her second year as head coach of Davidson, which also plays Pacific at Maxwell Family Field in Berkeley on Sunday, Oct. 12.

Cal Blanks Pacific, 3-0
Senior defender Carolina Bistue scored her third game-winning goal of the season and sophomore forward Natalie Nurnberg added two goals to give then-No. 15 Cal a 3-0 victory over NorPac foe Pacific on Oct. 4 at Maxwell Family Field. Bistue scored in a close first half, while Nurnberg scored both her goals in the second half.

Next Week
Cal heads to Virginia for the second time this season when it plays Old Dominion at 2 p.m. PT on Oct. 15 and takes on Delaware at 10 a.m. PT on Oct. 17. The Bears then travel to No. 3 Wake Forest for a game at 10 a.m. PT on Oct. 19 before returning to Berkeley.