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Stanislaus State Athletics

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Karenee Demery
Marty Bicek

Warriors beat #7 UCSD, advance to Championship match

11/4/2011 3:47:00 PM

Box Score

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TURLOCK — The quick strike offense of the Cal State Stanislaus women's soccer team came out on fire early, then the Warriors held on to beat UC San Diego, 2-1, on Friday in a CCAA Championship semifinal match.

Liz Scherrer and Karenee Demery scored first half goals to lift the Warriors over the seventh ranked, and top-seed UC San Diego Tritons. With the win, Cal State Stanislaus advances to Sunday's championship game versus Chico State at 11:30 a.m. Chico State beat Cal State L.A., 1-0, earlier on Friday.

The Warriors, appearing in their second straight CCAA Championship tournament, improved to 10-4-5 overall. They will be playing for their first CCAA Championship, which will also mean an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Sunday's championship game will be televised on the Comcast Hometown Network, which is available to Comcast Cable subscribers in Northern California. Tickets are also available at the Warrior Stadium Box Office, starting at 10:30 a.m.

"That was a great win against a great team. I'm very proud of how well we executed the game plan," CSUS head coach Gabriel Bolton said. "I've been saying for a few weeks now that we are really fresh and explosive. We are peaking at the right time. I think that was obvious today."

Cal State Stanislaus, which entered the weekend with conference's top offense, was on the attack early and often. The Warriors narrowly missed two great scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of play with a Marissa Dunaway shot going high in the fifth minute. A Demery try also sailed just high of the cross bar in the 10th minute.

"Offensively we created a lot of chances against the best defense in the CCAA. It says a lot about our attack that we finished two goals against a team that hasn't given up more than one all year," added Bolton.

Prior to Friday, UC San Diego had allowed just four goals the entire season. The Tritions, also the top ranked team in the region, are now 13-2-4.

The Warriors then turned away the UC San Diego attack, especially on set plays and corner kicks, which accounted for nearly half of the Triton goals this season. UC San Diego had five corners early, including three straight in a four-minute window, but came up empty.

Senior forward Liz Scherrer finally got the Warriors on the board at 17:24. After getting a pass from Demery to the far sideline. Scherrer blasted what looked like a cross into box as the ball bends in over UCSD goalkeeper Kristin Armstrong for the score.

Then, in the 41st minute, Demery picked up a nice thru-ball from Alexia Poon from the far side. Demery, the All-CCAA selection, finished it to the left post for the score. It was her 12th goal of the season.

The teams battled closely the rest of the first half and the second half with UC San Diego pressuring on offense. With Stanislaus defense held strong and controlled the tempo of the match and deny Triton strikes.

"Our team defense was outstanding. We  were really well organized and committed," Bolton said. "Millie was world class today. She dominated on crosses and high balls. In my opinion she is one of the best keepers in the country."

UC San Diego finally got a goal in the 85th minute when Sarah McTigue headed in a deflected ball from Cassie Callahan for the score to make it, 2-1.

Cal State Stanislaus held on in the final minutes to pull off the victory. Brown was credited with four saves on UCSD's five shots on goal off 13 attempts. The Warriors had nine shots and both shots on goal went in.

The last time a Cal State Stanislaus team won a conference championship was in 2008 when the softball team captured a CCAA title. The Men's Golf program won CCAA championships in 1999, 2001 and 2007.
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