The 2012 NorCal Invitational kicks off this weekend with the top 12 teams in the country participating in field, and 15 of the 16 teams are ranked in the CWPA top 20 polls. This weekend will serve as to see what teams are dominant, and if any teams ranked outside the top four can challenge, and possibly even defeat, either UCLA, USC, Cal or Stanford.
This page will serve as a results page for Day 1 of the NorCal Invitational, and whatever recap information that I can did up, so make sure to check back to this page often for the latest results and schedule of the tournament.
Game 1: No. 1 USC Trojans 22 -- Ponoma-Pitzer 1
This result was not a shock for USC to just roll past Ponoma-Pitzer. The Trojans were up 6-0 and 14-0 at the half, and did not allow a goal until the fourth quarter. The offense was evenly spread out with 13 USC players scoring at least one goal, and Kostas Genidounias scored three goals in the win. USC goalie James Clark had 10 saves.
Game 5: No. 2 UCLA Bruins 16 -- No. 18 Concordia 5
This result also was never in question, as UCLA raced out to a 9-0 halftime lead, and Concordia did not get on the board until the third quarter. UCLA played their backups and were not in attack mode since they had a huge lead.
Game 2: No. 8 Pepperdine Waves 10 -- No. 9 Long Beach St. 49ers 8
Pepperdine vs. Long Beach State happened just as we thought, as it was a close game between the No. 8 ranked and No. 9 ranked teams. The 3-0 lead after the first quarter for Pepperdine is what did in Long Beach State as the 49ers were only able to essentially go goal for goal. Long Beach State had plenty of chances in this game, but Pepperdine's Bence Valics blocked 21 shots to keep Long Beach State from pulling off the upset.
Game 6: No. 7 Pacific Tigers 9 -- No. 10 Loyola Marymount Lions 7
Another evenly matched game, and once again the higher seed wad victorious. Pacific was always just ahead of LMU on Saturday morning. After one quarter Pacific led 3-1, and at the half it was 5-3. Heading into the final quarter Pacific led 7-4, and LMU outscored Pacific 3-2 but it was not enough. Junior Balazs Erdelyi and sophomore utility player Alex Obert each scored three goals to lead Pacific past LMU. Goalie Alex Malkis played a key part in Pacific's win with eight save.
Game No. 3: No. 4 Stanford Cardinal 19 -- No. 14 Santa Clara Broncos 1
Stanford had no issue in front of their home crowd as they nearly shutout Santa Clara. The first quarter was actually fairly close as Stanford only led 3-0, but they increased that lead to 8-0 at the half. Then in the third quarter Stanford scored seven goals, and that quarter was when Santa Clara put up their only goal when Jimmy Moore got on the board. Freshman Bret Bonanni and sophomore Alex Bowen led the Cardinal with four goals each.
Game No. 7: No. 3 California Golden Bears 19 – No. 16 Air Force Falcons 2
Cal rolled easily pasted Air Force, and shut out the Falcons in the second half. Air Force was able to put up a pair of goals in the first half, but their defense was not able to slow down Cal led 7-2 at the half. After that the Air Force offense did nothing, and then in the final quarter things got out of hand as Cal was able to win the quarter 9-0.
All times are pacific:
Game No. 4: No. 5 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 11 -- No. 12 UC Davis Aggies 4
Game No. 8: No. 6 UC irvine Anteaters 11-- No. 11 UC San Diego Tritons 8 (OT)
Game No. 9: No. 9 Long Beach St. 49ers 16 -- Pomona-Pitzer 5
Game No. 13: No. 10 Loyola Marymount Lions 18 -- No. 18 Concordia 6
Game No. 10: No. 1 USC Trojans 9 -- No. 8 Pepperdine Waves 4
Game No. 14: No. 2 UCLA Bruins 9 -- No. 7 Pacific Tigers 4
Game No. 11: No. 12 UC Davis Aggies 5 -- No. 14 Santa Clara Broncos 3
Game No. 15: No. 11 UC San Diego Tritons 8 -- No. 16 Air Force Falcons 7 (SDOT)
Game No. 12: No. 4 Stanford Cardinal 8 -- No. 5 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 7
Game No. 1.: No. 3 California Golden Bears 14 vs. UC irvine Anteaters 7
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