The Pacific field hockey team defeated visiting California in an America East matchup Friday afternoon, 3-2. Kriekie van Wyk, Alicia Muiños and Emma Leach each had a goal for the Tigers.
The win brings Pacific to 5-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play while the loss brings California to 7-6 overall and 2-1 against America East opponents.
The Tigers struck early and neber looked back as Pacific was awarded a penalty corner in the 11th minute which allowed Leach and Ash Rutherford to setup the ball for van Wyk who ripped into the net for her team-leading 10th goal for the 2017-18 campaign. Seven minutes later, Muiños galloped down the field and Gaby de Kock fed her a beautiful pass and Muiños put it past a diving California 'keeper with ease to put the Tigers up 2-0.
At the end of the first 35, The Tigers outshot the Golden Bears 9-2 while Marlise van Tonder had a pair of saves.
In the second, the Bears threatned as Lindsay Mathison netted her first goal of the season. With the Tigers up 2-1, the lead wasn't comfortable enough and Leach scored off the penalty corner. Leach fed the ball to Rutherford who laid the ball down for van Wyk who took the initial shot but her attempt was saved which allowed Leach to snag the rebound and net Pacific's third goal of the afternoon.
In the 70th minute of play, the Bears pressured again with Megan Rodgers scoring her 14th goal of the season, but that wasn't enough as the clock hit zero and the Orange and Black pulled away with a 3-2 victory.
For the Tigers, van Wyk finished with four shots while Savannah Burns took three. The goalkeeper, van Tonder tallied a total of seven saves for Pacific and now holds a 5-7 record in goal.
Next for the Tigers is a road trip to conference rival, UC Davis on Sunday with a start time slated for 2 p.m. Live stats will be available via PacificTigers.com.