Wildcats in CCAA Championship Tournament for fifth time in last six years

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Wildcats in CCAA Championship Tournament for fifth time in last six years

11/3/2009 3:41:19 PM

TURLOCK – The California Collegiate Athletic Association title won’t be the only thing on the line when the Chico State women’s soccer team takes part in the CCAA Championship Tournament this weekend in Turlock on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus. The Wildcats are also likely playing for a spot in the NCAA Championship Tournament, a bid to which the winner of the CCAA Championship Tournament earns automatically. Click here for a link to the Tournament Website.

The Wildcats finished the regular season 8-4-8 overall and claimed their third CCAA North Division title in four years with a 6-2-8 conference mark. Their eight ties matches the NCAA record, first set by Fort Lewis College last season.

The Wildcats will open up CCAA Championship Tournament play as the No. 4 seed against top-seeded Cal State L.A. (15-2-2) Friday at 1:30 pm. The Golden Eagles handed Chico State one of its two losses in CCAA action all season, 2-1, earlier this season in Southern California. In the first semifinal match, No. 2 seed UC San Diego (14-5-0) faces No. 3 Cal State Dominguez Hills (13-7-0) at 11 am. The semifinal winners will play for the tournament title Sunday at 11:30 am.

Chico State beat UC San Diego 2-0 in Chico on Sept. 20, and defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills 2-1 in Carson on Sept. 27.

Two wins this weekend would not only give the Wildcats their second CCAA title in the last two years, but would also give Head Coach Kim Sutton 150 career wins.

Senior Ali Sward and sophomore Lisa Webster lead the Wildcats on offense. Sward has played a scoring or assisting role in 68 percent of the Wildcats’ goals this year. She’s scored seven of the Wildcats’ 22 goals, and assisted on eight others. Webster, meanwhile, leads the team with nine assists and has also scored four goals.

As good as that pair has been, senior goalkeeper Natalie Bensky just might be the team’s 2009 MVP. She’s played every minute of every match and allowed only 15 goals for a 0.68 goals-against average that ranks fourth in Chico State single season history. Bensky has been especially stingy late this season, allowing just five goals in the last nine matches, six of which went overtime. Her GAA during that stretch is 0.48.

Bensky even turned away a penalty kick in the Wildcats' regular season finale at Cal State Monterey Bay Sunday. That could be a good omen. In the postseason, if matches are tied following double-overtime (as eight of the Wildcats' 20 have thus far in 2009, penalty kicks are taken to determine which team advances on.

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Wildcats of the Week

Caressa Williams

Women's Basketball

For much of the season, redshirt freshman Caressa Williams has been sitting at the end of the Chico State women’s basketball team bench, seeing very little on-court action. But the former Paradise High School star continued to work hard on her game, and the extra effort has paid off in recent weeks with significantly more playing time. After a string of short but impressive relief roles, Williams delivered a breakout performance Saturday against Humboldt State, posting career highs in scoring and rebounding in the Wildcats’ 90-67 thumping of Humboldt State. Her strongest effort to date makes Williams the latest Wildcat of the Week.

Williams shot over 58 percent (7-of-12), averaging just under 10 points and five rebounds in Chico State’s two weekend contests. She began the weekend with a solid outing Friday against Sonoma State, contributing five points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals in 16 minutes of action. Saturday, though, she was a major part of the Wildcat reserves combining to score 51 in the team’s convincing 23-point win over Humboldt. Williams played 24 minutes, scoring 14 points and hauling in seven rebounds – both career highs – connecting on five of her seven field goal attempts. She also chipped in with an assist and a steal in addition to shining on the defensive end.

Williams’ productive weekend saw her season scoring average more than double, rising from 1.6 to 3.6 points per game. Overall, she is shooting 50 percent from the field and is averaging two rebounds a contest.

Chico State is back in action this weekend, hosting Cal Poly Pomona Friday and San Francisco State Saturday at Acker Gym. Both games are scheduled to tipoff at 5:30 p.m.

Amir Carraway

Men's Basketball

Amir Carraway capped a strong weekend with team highs of 16 points and seven rebounds in the Wildcats’ huge win against Humboldt State Saturday night to earn Wildcat of the Week honors for the second time this season.

The sophomore from Vallejo made two game-sealing free throws with 21 seconds left to finish the night 6-of-7 from the free throw line and pulled down key rebounds on two of the Lumberjacks’ last three possessions. He also set the screen on Jay Flores’ dagger 3-pointer with 40 seconds left.

Carraway finished with 10 points and four rebounds despite playing just 18 minutes due to foul trouble during the Wildcats’ loss to Sonoma State the night before.

The 6-foot-5 forward leads the team in rebounding at 5.5 per game and ranks second in scoring at 10.6 points per game a season after averaging just 1.4 points and one rebound in only 5.4 minutes a night. He’s now led the team in scoring five times and rebounding six this season.

Carraway and the Wildcats, among four teams tied for second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings, trail conference co-leaders Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills by just one game. They’ll welcome Cal Poly Pomona to town Friday night and San Francisco State Saturday.

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Webster, Downtain named to Final Four All-Tournament Team

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Webster ends her Chico State career with Final Four appearance and Wildcat of the Week award

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