DBD 10.15.09 The Uprising Begins

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BERKELEY – The Golden Bears are set to face their sixth consecutive top-25 team as they embark on their second Pac-10 road trip. No. 14 Cal, No. 15 Oregon and Oregon State each carry 2-3 conference records into the weekend and are looking to improve as the mid-way point of the Pac-10 season approaches. The Bears snapped a three-match skid as they swept No. 25-ranked Washington State to give head coach Rich Feller his 200th win at Cal. Feller’s next victory will be his 500th career win as a collegiate volleyball head coach.

THE FACTS: The No. 14-ranked California volleyball team (9-6, 2-3 Pac-10) heads to the Beaver State for matches against No. 15 Oregon (12-3, 2-3 Pac-10) and Oregon State (11-6, 2-3 Pac-10). The Golden Bears square off against the Ducks in a 7 p.m. PT match on Friday (Oct. 16) at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore. and will take on the Beavers at 7 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 17) at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Fans can follow live stats for Cal’s match at Oregon via links at www.goducks.com. Oregon also offers a live video feed of the match for fans who subscribe to the GoDucks.com All-Sports package for $9.95 per month. Live stats and free streaming video will be available when the Bears take on the Beavers via links at www.osubeavers.com.

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This Week in Cal Women’s Soccer
The No. 17 California women’s soccer team (8-3-1, 2-0-0 in the Pac-10 Conference) returns to the friendly confines of Edwards Stadium to go toe-to-toe with the L.A. schools. The Bears will open with No. 3 UCLA (11-1-1, 2-0-0 Pac-10) on Friday, Oct. 16, at 3:30 p.m. before hosting No. 9 USC (10-3-0, 2-0-0 Pac-10) for a 1 p.m. match on Sunday, Oct. 18. Last season, UCLA advanced to the final of the Women’s College Cup while USC lost in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last Time Out
Last week, Cal opened Pac-10 play with a 2-1 win over then-No. 25 Oregon and a 2-0 victory against Oregon State. Against Oregon, junior forward Alex Morgan scored a goal 1:28 into the game, the earliest for the Bears this season. The Ducks tied the score with a goal 2:46 into the second half, but redshirt junior forward Lisa Kevorkian scored her third game-winning goal of the season just 21 seconds later. In the match against Oregon State, sophomore midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir scored the game-winning goal in the 61st minute. The Bears later received another goal from Alex Morgan with 11:07 left in the game.

On the Pitch With Neil McGuire
“The games this weekend provide us with the stiffest of tests. Both UCLA and USC are excellent teams and we look forward to the challenge. We have had a good week of practice, are getting healthier and are looking forward the competition.”

Alex Morgan Named a CS360’s Primetime Performer of the Week
Junior forward Alex Morgan was recognized by College Soccer 360 as a Primetime Performer of the Week after her performance last weekend in Oregon. Against the Ducks, Morgan scored just 1:28 minutes into the match by beating the keeper from 20 yards out on a free kick. Morgan also contributed on the game-winning goal – coming in with the assist for Lisa Kevorkian. Morgan distanced the Bears against the Beavers, 2-0, when the Diamond Bar, Calif., native added her 10th goal of the season with 11:07 to play in the game off a dish from redshirt junior Lisa Kevorkian. Morgan went one-v-one with the keeper to beat her for the score. Morgan has 10 goals through 12 games of play, which is a new personal career record after scoring nine goals last year and eight goals during her freshman campaign. Averaging .833 goals per game, Morgan is on pace to score roughly six more goals before the season’s close.

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BERKELEY – The California women’s tennis team will send six players to the Saint Mary’s College Invitational this weekend (Oct. 16-18) at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex in Moraga, Calif. The Golden Bears will be represented by senior Kasia Siwosz, sophomores Stephany Chang and Catalina Visico, and freshmen Tayler Davis, Annie Goransson and Nelly Radeva. Matches begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, with semifinal and final matches taking place on Sunday, Oct. 18.

The tournament is divided into three singles flights and three doubles flights with red designating the highest of the three draws; followed by white and then by blue. Some of the top women’s collegiate tennis players will be in attendance as Cal joins Fresno State, Gonzaga, Loyola-Marymount, Portland, Sacramento State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Davis, Washington and host Saint Mary’s.

In doubles play, Chang and Siwosz will team up; Davis and Goransson will pair up; and Radeva and Visico will take the court together.

Last year, Jana Juricova claimed the singles title as she reeled off five wins amidst an 11-match winning streak throughout which she dropped just one set. Juricova also teamed up with Rachael Dillon in the duo’s only three matches together to secure the doubles crown.

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On the Pool Deck
California (1-0) heads to Southern California to train and swim in a relay meet with San Diego State at 10 a.m on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Aztec Aquaplex. The Golden Bears will also train and compete in an exhibition with UC San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 15, at Cathedral Catholic High School and, as part of their training, swim in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, Oct. 16.

Saturday’s competition is not a dual meet, though it marks the first meeting between Cal and San Diego State in women’s swimming.

Scouting the Golden Bears
Cal is coming off a 158-87 dual-meet victory over Pacific on Oct. 10 at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Four Bears won individual events, with impressive freshman Caitlin Leverenz winning in NCAA B qualifying times in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard individual medley. The Tucson, Ariz., product swam a time of 2:13.13 in the 200 breaststroke and a time of 4:13.96 in the 400 IM.

Senior Heather White, junior Erica Dagg and sophomore Sara Isakovic also won two events each against the Tigers. White also posted an NCAA B qualifying time (4:19.12) in the 400 IM. The local product from Oakland, Calif., won the 100 breaststroke (1:05.08) and 200 backstroke (2:03.33).

Dagg, from New Orleans, led a top-four Cal sweep of the 100 backstroke (56.71) and later claimed the 100 freestyle (50.76). Isakovic, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist from Bled, Slovenia, won the 200 freestyle in an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:47.45.

The Bears opened the 2009-10 season on Sept. 18 at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where Leverenz won the title of the Queen of the Pool after swimming the lowest combined time in a pentathlon of 100-yard events.

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BERKELEY – California senior forward Jeff Cosgriff was selected to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week for his hat trick in the Golden Bears’ 4-1 Pac-10 Conference victory over Oregon State on Oct. 11 at Edwards Stadium.

Cosgriff, a skillful, 6-4 player, is a local product from San Bruno, Calif., who transferred to Cal from Santa Clara this past offseason. He has flourished playing alongside junior forward Andrew Wiedeman this season and has posted career highs and ranks second at Cal in points (16), goals (6), assists (4) and game-winning goals (3) through 11 games.

Cal returns to action with a pair of road games against UCLA, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15, and San Diego State, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17.

HTF am I the first one to comment? I don’t comment much anymore.

She’ll use the javelin to spear Twist from afar, then kill him up close with the hammer.

And then break his bones with the shot put to make her bread.

We’re talkin’ about practice…and Harry Edwards.

Enough sun came out Wednesday to make the field at Memorial Stadium playable for practice. In fact, it was in surprisingly good shape considering how battered it looked yesterday afternoon. Cal held a full practice before Thursday’s slightly shorter practice that will end with the players boarding their busses for Pasadena.

After practice, the Bears were paid a visit by Dr. Harry Edwards, the sports sociologist who has worked with many teams on the pro and college level. Edwards has given talks to the team a handful of times over the years about topics such as diversity and team chemistry.

Shouldn’t we be flying in Ruth Firth to talk to our team instead of this Edwards guy?

I mean she has sustained victory for a century! Screw this U$C dynasty, I want a Firth dynasty…

PS Great thanks to JShufelt for his help with this.

I bet that lady said “Kobe” after she let loose that shot put.

Miller:

California 24, UCLA 20: You know that old girlfriend or boyfriend you kept going back to even though he or she did you wrong? Oh, Cal, will this time you be true? On a substantive level, it’s a concern for UCLA that linebacker Reggie Carter is nursing a sprained knee when Jahvid Best is coming to town, and the Bruins’ offense seems further away from a transformation to efficiency than the Bears. Of course, Cal never wins in L.A., so feel free to disagree with this one.

http://www.break.com/index/drunkest-guy-ever-goes-for-more-beer.html

Wilner:

As I wrote earlier in the week, the Bears appear to be on the brink of collapse.

It’s not because they lost to Oregon and USC — most, if not all teams would have done the same. It’s because of how they lost: By a combined score of 72-6.

You lose 72-6, and you have problems, especially when you actually did collapse two years ago and many of the current players were on that team and are trying to fight off the demons.


The question for Cal is: How many of the problems have been fixed completely in the past 12 days and how many have been fixed partially? Because even "partially fixed" might be good enough for now.

It’s not like the Bears are facing a juggernaut this week. If they aren’t on the brink of collapse — if confidence is high and the lockerroom is together — then this would be a good time to prove it.

And they "should" beat UCLA in the same manner they "should not" be losing to USC and Oregon by 66 points.

And if they do, in fact, lose Saturday, then we could very well be looking at another 6-6 season — partly because of what it would say about them but also because of what it would mean to them as a confidence-killing, losing-streak-extending defeat.

But I think Cal wins. Might not be a dominant victory. Might not be a pretty victory. But I think Cal wins. It has to win.

And because of the upcoming schedule, a victory would count triple.

Let’s game this out …

The Bears would be 4-2/1-2 with WSU (home) and then ASU (road) coming up. They’ll beat WSU, and they should beat ASU, especially if they’re riding a two-game winning streak and have successful fought back the demons from the ‘07 collapse.

And if they win in Tempe, they’re 6-2/3-2 and a top-tier finish is possible.

Again, Saturday’s game counts triple because of the scenarios it sets in motion.

A detailed breakdown of the problems at 2B for your Oakland A’s.

Oskitalk reflects:

Anyway, based on further reflection, here is what I believe at this stage of the season:

1) Oregon is better that we thought at the beginning of the year. They have decent players at a lot of positions, and they have some depth. Defensively, they are pretty good. They could give SC a very tough game in Eugene. This could be the year that they break the spell of the USC dynasty.

2) The rest of the Pac 10 is pretty middle of the road. Oregon State, Arizona, Stanfurd, Arizona State, Washington and UCLA could all see 7-5 seasons. Washington State is the only truly poor team in the conference.

3) Cal is a pretty good team, but a team with a glaring weakness – the passing game. And it is not a receiver issue, or a play calling issue, or a line play issue. It is a QB issue. And for that, Tedford is at fault. It is his job (partially) to develop these young guys that have good talent to become quality division 1 QBs. Kevin Riley is doing a very poor job after the first three games. And it is a matter of confidence. I think he has the physical ability. But he is not mentally tough enough to get the job done, week in and out. He had great games for the first three weeks, number 6 in the country in passing. But the last two games, against tough teams, he folded. He could not hit WIDE OPEN – REALLY REALLY REALLY WIDE OPEN players. And that level of play has impacted the rest of the team. So stacking the box and letting Riley beat you when he can not throw the ball is a disaster for the Bears. Until he can prove that he can throw the Bears will lose against decent opposition. And JT should have done a better job of developing his QBs.

4) But Tedford does not take all the blame – it is also Riley’s fault for being a head case. Earn the job. It is not your’s just because you were the best QB in Oregon coming out of high school. This is the big time. JT playing someone in front of you is not an excuse to suck when it is your turn. This is your second year of being named the starter. Get over it.

4) The PAC 10 defenses this year are much better than in the past few years. And Pac 10 QB play is much less capable than in the past few years. Having a decent QB on your team this year will give you a huge advantage. Locker, for example, is leading a terrible team to a much improved season. Next year, when Nick Montana takes the field, the Huskies will be dead meat. But for the time being…

5) The Bears had plenty of opportunity to win the game against SC. There were TONS of open men – the play calling was inspired. Even the Wildcat was pretty darn good. The Bears moved the ball fine, but just could not score. It was a very frustrating game. The defense held SC fairly well, considering the time on the field and the constant barrage of three and out for the Bears. Not a stellar defensive gem, but not bad.

6) The Oregon game was a lost cause as soon as we did not finish that first drive. We caved in, and they rose up. It is like they were released from shackles and beat down the man. And, here, there is hope for the Bears. Because we are in the same position that Oregon was at the beginning of the year. Dropped from the standing for losing to Boise State, on the road. Because of a stupid incident after the game. But Boise is now #5 in the country. And Masoli, who, I have to give him credit – is a fighter. And he never gave up and came through against the Bears and has been on a roll ever since. That Boise thing got the Ducks together. They were totally disrespected, and totally written off. Just like Cal is now. I do not think the Bears are the second worst team in the Pac 10. But that is where we currently are ranked according to Ted Miller, of ESPN.

Never forget:

Bears taking the bus to LA

“We all understand the financial constraints that we’re in, and we want to do anything we can do to help out the department,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “It felt like it was something that we could help with and do our part.”

Leaf turning over a new leaf in the land of maple leafs.

This fan loves the Cougs.

Cougs are off this week as they learn how to execute a bubble screen with perfection.

Jon & Kate Plus 8 Cancelled!!!!11

Twist, what are you going to do with your [whatever day this is on] nights?

Too many good ones this week:

Apparently a problem was traced back to me and I was working about 2 hours today morning to figure out what was wrong (since I said I fixed it yesterday). Turns out I did fix it and it was something totally random and different! What a relief.