HAYWARD, Calif. – If Head Coach
Lisa Cooper were to circle the most meaningful games on the schedule prior to the season, it arguably would start with March 27-28. Cal State East Bay will host Sonoma State on Friday afternoon and travel to Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday.
Cal State East Bay (10-12) has previously played each of its weekend opponents earlier this season. The Pioneers took down Sonoma State 8-6 in San Diego back on Feb. 8. Cal State Monterey Bay went in to Pioneer Pool and scored three fourth quarter goals to hand the host Pioneers a 9-8 defeat.
Noelle Herrera leads Sonoma State with 29 goals and 47 earned exclusions this season. She is connecting on better than 43 percent of her shots and has nearly 38 percent of the team's drawn kickouts in 21 games.
Kaysie Lewis and Carleigh Robinson have made only three starts but have combined for 46 goals this season. This duo, along with Herrera, has combined to score more than half of the team's goals. This trio was held to a single goal in the original matchup at the Triton Invitational.
It was an ejection laden contest with 24 different exclusions between the two teams. The Seawolves converted on 5-of-13 player advantage opportunities while the Pioneers connected on 3-of-11 chances.
Sabrina Hatzer led East Bay with two goals in the victory.
Simonne Call,
Casey Rushforth,
Alyssa Hess,
Bre Ritter,
Taylor Cross, and
Ka'iliponi McGee each scored in the victory.
CSUEB senior goalkeeper
Marrina Nation finished with 11 saves and an assist in each of the previous contests with Sonoma State and Cal State Monterey Bay. This past weekend she became only the second player in program history to make 700 career saves.
Cal State East Bay led Cal State Monterey Bay 6-4 at halftime before the visiting Otters scored four unanswered goals over the ensuing 13 minutes out of intermission. Both goalkeepers had solid outings in the Jan. 24 meeting with CSUMB's Amanda Jennings stopping 14 shots and Nation providing 12 saves.
The balanced offensive attack for the Otters includes six different players with at least 14 goals scored. Bree Hogervorst scored three times in the Cal State Monterey Bay win. Cami Kellogg scored twice in the fourth quarter of that late January matchup.
However the Otters offense is averaging only 6.1 goals per game and has scored in double figures just three times in 18 contests. CSUMB is unbeaten (3-0) when breaking double digits and just 2-13 when falling short.
Hatzer, Rushforth, and Hess each scored twice in the original meeting. Rushforth leads the squad with 37 steals and 32 assists. She finished with six goals and 11 assists during the team's recent trip to southern California.
Tori Dettloff has scored 15 goals over the past 10 games including a four goal performance in the team's most recent win over Concordia Irvine. She scored the game-winning goal during the final two minutes in each of the past two matches after scoring only twice through the first 12 games of the season.
