NEWS RELEASE
April 9, 2006

ROOKS BLANK SAMBA IN SEASON OPENER
Ratzburg’s Early Strike Gives Chico 1 – 0 Win

On Saturday afternoon the Chico Rooks, kicked off their 2006 National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) campaign with a hard fought 1 – 0 win over the visiting Salinas Valley Samba at 20th Street Community Park.  

Forward Keith Ratzburg netted the lone goal of the match in the 4th minute of play as he received a through ball on the left side from Calum Robertson and beat Thomas Hernandez, the Samba keeper, from 6 yards out.  Following Ratzburg’s strike the Rooks continued to put pressure on Salinas and created several good scoring opportunities but were unable to convert.

Midway through the first half the Samba came to life and the momentum of the game changed.  Nick Clark, the Rooks keeper made several spectacular saves denying Salinas the equalizer.  “Nick made severl big saves for us today, he was the player of the match,” said Rooks head coach David Stahl.  Clark, the Rooks back up keeper in 2005, just completed his senior year at Fort Lewis Collge where he led the Skyhawks to the 2005 NCAA Division II National Championship with 14 shutouts.

Chico regained the momentum in the second frame as they were able to stifle the Samba attack and kept the ball on the Salinas side of the pitch for the majority of the half. “Our back four did a much better job of marking the Salinas forwards in the second half,” said Stahl.  Salinas made things difficult for the Rooks as they created several chances as they pushed forward in the waning momentsof the game.  However, the Rooks defense held and Chico earned the 1 – 0 victory.

“It was not a pretty game,” said Ratzburg,”but ugly doesn’t matter when you get the win.  It’s huge to get that type of result to open up the season.”    Overall, the Rooks tallied 11 shots to 15 for the Samba.  Clark earned the shutout and had 10 saves for Chico while Hernandez recorded 6 saves for Salinas.

The game was played at 20th Street Community Park rather than the Soccer Stadium on the Chico State campus as the University said the field was closed to weather conditions.    “Unfortunatley, by playing at 20th Street we had  to give up home field advantage and didn’t have the fan support we would have at the stadium,” said Stahl, “but the important thing is we played the game and got the victory.”

The Rooks will be at home again next week as they host the Redwood City Ruckus on Friday night at 7:30 at the Soccer Stadium on the Chico State campus. 

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