Pardon Emily Curry if she's not all that familiar with the history of the Chico State women's soccer program. After all, the true freshman just arrived on campus a few weeks ago.
But those who follow the Wildcats know that the 3-0 week they just wrapped up was historic. And Curry, our Wildcat of the Week, was one of the key reasons.
The defensive holding midfielder helped the Wildcats hold their last two opponents – Holy Names and Academy of Art – without a single shot. To put that in perspective, prior to Friday night, the Wildcats had held just one team without a shot since the beginning of the 2000 season. Sunday, the Wildcats accomplished the feat for the second time in three days.
When asked to single out the player most responsible for the feat, Head Coach Kim Sutton chose Curry, though noting that it takes quality defending from every player on the pitch to dominate so thoroughly.
Last Wednesday, the Wildcats held Seattle Pacific (picked to finish second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference) to just six shots, none of which were on goal.
They did not allow a shot over the final 188 minutes, 50 seconds of the week, and outshot their three opponents by a combined 72-6 (29-0 in shots on goal).
The 13th-ranked Wildcats improved to 4-0-1 and are unbeaten through their first five matches for the first time since 1998, when they started 5-0.
They'll try to keep it rolling when the open CCAA play this weekend at San Francisco State (Friday at 3 p.m.) and Cal State Monterey Bay (Sunday at 11:30 a.m.).
