NEWS RELEASE
May 28, 2006

ROOKS EDGE SONOMA 2-1
Castillo and Ribaudo Net Second Half Goals 

The Chico Rooks downed the Sonoma County Sol by a score of 2 – 1 on Saturday evening.  Mario Castillo and Donnie Ribaudo tallied goals for Chico in the second half.  Sonoma scored a goal in injury time that halved the Rooks margin of victory.  The Rooks  overall record in league play improves to 4 – 2 – 4 (16 points) while Sonoma falls to 6 – 4 – 1 (19 points).

Chico played a lackluster first half as they tried adjust to playing without leading goal scorer Keith Ratzburg and veteran midfielder Calum Robertson.  Raxzburg was still recovering from a concussion he suffered in Seattle last week and Robertson was sidelined by a groin pull in practice on Thursday.

“We played the first half like we were in a stupor,” said Rooks coach David Stahl, “due to some great saves by Nick (Clark, the Rooks goalkeeper) and some near misses by Sonoma we were able toweather the storm.” Sonoma recorded 8 shotson goal to 5 for Chico in the first period.

The momnetum turned in Chico’s favor in the second frame.  After creating several good scoring opportunities the Rooks tallied their first goal of the match in the 53rd minute.   Joe Munoz drove a 50 yard cross field pass to Ben Gatenbien on the right flank.  Gatenbien raced to the endline and dished a pass to Castillo who rifled a shot to the lower left corner from 10 yards out to make it 1 – 0. 

In the 75th minute Tibi Marinescu dribbled up field and slotted a through ball to Brett Williams on the right side. Williams lofted a cross to the far post that Ribaudo headed in from 8 yards out to make it 2 –0.  With regulation time expired the Sol denied Clark the shutout as Tyler Hurst sent 16 yard shot through traffic in front of the goal that beat Clark in the 91st minute.

The Rooks will be on the road next week as they will travel to Salinas on Saturday night to play the Samba then head up to San Jose to play the Frogs on Sunday afternoon.  Chico returns home the following week when they will host the Redwood City Ruckus.  

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