Published 2006-11-10T00:00:00Z”/>

Tanya Roscorla

Scoring goals is nothing new to most field hockey teams.

For Chico State’s field hockey club, scoring 10 goals in two games was a miracle on the pitch.

The team did not score a goal last year, but it has finished its current season with a 3-4-1 record after losing 6-0 at home to UC Davis on Sunday.

“We have confidence that we can pass the ball off and that they’ll be able to pick it up and take it away,” club president Debbie Schuster said.

That confidence has helped the Wildcats earn a spot in the Western Collegiate Field Hockey Conference championship tournament in Davis on Nov. 18. Four of the five conference teams made the tournament, in which the winners of the first two games advance to the championship game and the losers play for third place.

Chico State could face undefeated UC Davis again, in the tournament. The Wildcats would have to play better defense if the players want to fight for the championship, club treasurer Stephanie Wahab said.

The Wildcats could not crack the back of the net after multiple close chances Sunday, and they allowed their opponents to score six goals.

“We had the Sunday blues,” Wahab said. “We were really nervous, and there was mud everywhere. I hate mud.”

Tracking its opponents closely and covering the goal posts will allow the team’s defense to deny more points and keep the ball on the other end of the field, Wahab said.

UC Davis captain Carolyn Sawyer said her team’s defense has kept it ahead of everyone else. The Aggies will be working on set plays and team bonding to prepare for the tournament.

The Wildcats kept the Aggies from scoring in the first 15 minutes of the game, but UC Davis had the speed and passing skills to pick apart Chico State’s defense.

In the second half, Schuster placed a ball in the net that the referee did not count as a goal because of a foul, and a UC Davis goal counted despite a possible high stick. But the game came down to a strong Aggie team outplaying a team that is on the rebound after a dismal season the previous year.

Chico State scored 10 goals in wins over UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara three weekends ago, and the team lost to UC Davis twice during the season.

Tanya Roscorla can be reached at

<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>