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Benz drives Cal Bears soccer women

Open field

 

It was quite a week for the Valley’s Katie Benz. Actually, it’s been an impressive early season for Benz, who is not only one of the top players for the University of California, Berkeley’s women’s soccer team, but one of the top offensive players in the Pac 12 Conference, who earned national attention for her recent eye-opening performances over a six-match run.

Benz – a 2008 Sonoma Valley High School graduate and former Lady Dragon soccer standout who was a two-time Sonoma County League offensive player of the year and a first-team All-Empire selection – has been the scoring force for the Golden Bear women, who have won six straight matches (as of presstime), which included capturing their own Cal Invitational title.

During Cal’s six-match winning streak Benz scored in each game and ended up tallying a total of nine goals and added two assists in Cal’s last half-dozen matches.

Benz scored one goal in a 2-1 victory over San Diego; two goals and an assist in a 7-0 romp over North Dakota State; one goal in a 3-0 shutout of Hawaii; one goal and one assist in a 5-1 triumph over Kent State; a three-goal hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Denver in the Cal Invitational opener; and one goal in the 2-0 tournament title-match victory over Long Beach State.

For her outstanding play last week, Benz was honored by being named to Soccer America’s and TopDrawerSoccer.com’s “national teams of the week.”

Since this is still early season, the 2011 campaign is shaping up well for Benz and the Cal Bear soccer women, which makes for a lot of fun following Katie and her Golden Bear teammates.

Ciao!