UC Davis travelled to Stanford on Thursday to compete in its third NorPac tournament since regaining varsity status in 2009.
Coming off of the momentum created by their recent 4-1 win against Pacific, the Aggies were optimistic about their play in the upcoming matches.
While that momentum was not enough to power UC Davis past Davidson’s strong offense in the first round, the Aggies were able to rally in their second match to end the season with a win.
Thursday — Davidson 4, UC Davis 1
The final score of the Aggies’ match against Davidson doesn’t accurately represent the tense battle that took place on the field.
UC Davis came out strong and took the initial lead off of a goal by junior Emily Mecke in the 14th minute of play. However, Davidson’s Finley Amato answered with a goal for the Wildcats five minutes later, tying the score at one.
The tie lasted for the rest of the first half and the game remained deadlocked for much of the second period.
But with fifteen minutes left on the clock, Davidson’s offense exploded, scoring three goals in five minutes and 23 seconds. The Aggies were unable to answer the sudden scoring outburst and the match ended with a final score of 1-4.
“[Davidson] did a really good job of exposing our strengths and weaknesses,” said Head Coach Vianney Campos. “We need [to be able] to make the changes.”
The loss matched UC Davis against Appalachian State in the consolation round the following day.
Friday — UC Davis 2, Appalachian State 0
The Aggies set the tone going into the off-season with a final win against Appalachian State.
UC Davis took control of the game with sophomore Cloey LemMon’s first half goal. LemMon’s goal was her seventh of the season, tying her with Mecke for the team high. Junior Nadia Namdari added a second point in the final minutes of play to complete scoring for the Aggies.
Though offensively sound, the key to the game proved to be the strong defense put forward by UC Davis. Junior Conley Craven’s nine saves allowed for the Aggies to shut out Appalachian despite being outshot 17-14.
“Our defense was the backbone of our team on Friday … and will continue to be for the next few years,” Campos said.
The win gave UC Davis a final season record of 5-12.
After only their third season of division one play, the Aggies enter the offseason with high hopes of building off of the success that they found this season.
“We’ve basically encountered every situation possible,” Campos said. “We’ve experienced it all this season … we’re excited [going into the offseason]. The team has great morale.”
KAITLYN ZUFALL can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
