Wildcats earn NCAA Championship Tournament berth

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Wildcats earn NCAA Championship Tournament berth

11/9/2009 4:44:58 PM

CHICO, Calif. – After making an early exit in last week’s California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament, you can forgive the Chico State women’s soccer team of being more than a little anxious as the Wildcat players gathered in Acker Gym Monday afternoon to find out if the ’Cats had qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division II Championship Tournament. But the tension in the room quickly gave way to hearty cheers when the official announcement came down: the Wildcats were selected as one of six teams competing in the West Region bracket, and for the fourth time in six years, Chico State will get the chance to play for the NCAA title beginning Thursday in San Diego against Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion and defending national champs Seattle Pacific University.

The Wildcats (8-5-8 on the season) and Falcons (16-3-1) will square off at Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Triton Soccer Stadium on the UC San Diego campus. This will be the second meeting of the year between the two schools – Seattle Pacific edged Chico State 1-0 September 8 at University Soccer Stadium.

“This is terrific,” Chico State Head Coach Kim Sutton said ecstatically immediately following Monday’s announcement. “We worked hard all year to get to this point, and this is exactly where we wanted to be. Getting into the tournament is an honor, and it’s good for this young team to be able to live this experience.”

The Wildcats enter the NCAA Tournament seeded sixth in the West Region. CCAA champion Cal State L.A. grabbed the No. 1 seed, with UC San Diego seeded second. Seattle Pacific earned the region’s No. 3 seed, followed by Pacific West Conference champion Dixie State College, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Chico State.

In four NCAA Championship Tournament appearances, the Wildcats have yet to advance past the first round. Chico State’s last West Region match was in 2007, when it battled Cal State L.A. to a scoreless tie, but lost 3-1 on penalty kicks.

The winner of Thursday’s Chico State-Seattle Pacific match will play Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against UC San Diego, which drew a first round bye.

Ticket information for the West Region matches will be posted on the Wildcats Athletics website as soon as it becomes available.

48 teams from eight different regions throughout the country are selected for the NCAA Championship Tournament, with the national champ crowned December 5 in Tampa, Florida.

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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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