Womens bball cracks a century:

BERKELEY – Freshman DeNesha Stallworth scored 17 points to help the No. 13/18 California Golden Bears open their season with a 100-43 win over Idaho State on Sunday night at Haas Pavilion.

Senior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson set the tone, draining a three-pointer fourteen seconds into the contest, launching a 29-4 run that left Idaho State mired in a deep hole that they never managed to come back from. The quick Cal team also applied constant pressure in the game, forcing 34 turnovers and turning those into 49 Bear points. The Bears also used their size, outscoring ISU 46-10 in the paint.

Freshman guard Eliza Pierre drew a pair of fouls and converted four freethrow attempts in the final minute to push the Bears score to the century mark. This was the first time the Bears had scores 100 points in a game since Jan. 6, 1996 and the 15th time overall in Cal history that the team reached triple digits. The 100 points is also the most ever points scored by a Cal team in a game Haas Pavilion, eclipsing the previous high of 99 points scored against Washington State on December 30, 2007.

“I think it was a great first game for us,”said Head Coach Joanne Boyle. “We tried to come out and be aggressive and press a little bit, play a little match-up zone and man. Our defense is way ahead of our offense right now, so I think the defense really got us jumpstarted.”

Freshmen forwards DeNesha Stallworth and Gennifer Brandon got the nod in the starting lineup. Stallworth. who scored 21 points in the exhibition game against Vanguard, was equally dominant in her first official game as a Cal Bear, scoring 17 points, hitting 6-of-8 field goal attempts, including pulling up for a three-pointer from the top of the arc. Stallworth also had three assists and eight rebounds. Brandon scored 10 points with 8 rebounds.

Womens soccer loses to Florida State in NCAA Tourney:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The California women’s soccer team saw its 2009 campaign and NCAA Tournament hopes come to an end with a 3-0 loss at the hands of No. 1-seed and host Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The Seminoles (18-4-1) scored two first-half goals to build an insurmountable lead over the Golden Bears (11-9-1).

Lisa Kevorkian, who had five shots and a goal against Auburn, had the first attempt 1:20 into the game with a shot that went wide. Alex Morgan forced the first save for either side in the ninth minute with a shot that FSU keeper Erin McNulty grabbed. Emily Shibata had a wide shot at 11:48 and then another shot that McNulty saved at 13:50

The Seminoles’ first shot on goal came a few seconds into the 16th minute, but Cal goalie Gina Pellegrini was there with the save. Florida State scored the first goal of the game at 33:03 with a goal from Jessica Price with Amanda DaCosta on the assist. A shot deflected off Pellegrini, Price collected and slipped the ball inside the left post from 10 yards out to give FSU a 1-0 lead.

VBall beats Ducks:

BERKELEY – California volleyball senior outside hitter Hana Cutura celebrated Senior Day by leading the No. 12-ranked California volleyball team (17-8, 10-5 Pac-10) with a match-high 28 kills (5e, 52att, .442) to a four-set (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16) win over No. 16 Oregon (16-8, 6-8 Pac-10) on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Haas Pavilion. Cutura recorded her team-leading ninth double-double in the process as she posted 10 digs. Senior libero Kristen Kathan led all players with 18 digs and senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley added seven kills (5e, 19att, .105) and three blocks as the Golden Bears won their fifth straight match in their regular-season home finale.

Cutura’s 28 kills put her season total at 493, which is good for Cal’s sixth-best single-season output. Cutura also logged Cal’s fifth-best single season kills mark with 499 in 2008 and the seventh best total in 2007 with 485. Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey had 16 kills (4e, 36att, .333) and added eight digs and five blocks while freshman opposite hitter Correy Johnson chipped in nine kills (2e, 19att, .368) and three blocks. Junior setter Carli Lloyd put up 54 assists to go with 10 digs for her seventh double-double as the Bears attacked at a .341 rate in the match (63k, 17e, 135att).

Oregon junior outside hitter Heather Meyers led the Ducks with 13 kills on 34 swings (6e, .206) and tied for the team-lead with 11 digs. Senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe had nine kills (7e, 39att, .051) and also had 11 digs. Senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi added 11 kills (6e, 24att, .208) for Oregon to go with three blocks. The Ducks had 46 kills as a team (24e, 131att) to log a .168 attack rate.

After facing the seventh tie of the set at nine-all, the Bears quickly built a seven-point advantage at 18-11 as Cutura earned four kills and a service ace through a 5-1 Cal run. The Bears solidified their block and rejected several Newcombe attacks to push out to a 22-13 advantage as Murrey earned a kill down the line. Murrey put another shot off the Duck block to make the score 23-14 before Oregon came back with a couple of points but the Ducks couldn’t get out of their own way as an errant attack by Meyers set Cal up with match point before a service error surrendered the match to the Bears. Cal attacked at a .462 rate in the final stanza with 14 kills (2e, 26att) and held the Ducks to their lowest output of the match with a .074 rate on 27 swings (9k, 7e).

Mens Water Polo beats Santa Clara:

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – The No. 2-ranked Cal men’s water polo team (20-4), paced by senior captain Spencer Warden’s six goals, powered past No. 13 Santa Clara (17-11), 15-4, Sunday, Nov. 15 at Santa Clara’s Sullivan Aquatics Center. The Golden Bears have now captured nine matches in a row heading into the Nov. 21 Big Splash at 2 p.m. at Stanford. Sophomores Luka Saponjic, Ivan Rackov and Travis Bickham added two goals apiece for Cal, while freshman goalie Justin Parsons notched eight saves.

Warden, a three-time All-American for the Bears, has now scored 132 career goals in 108 career matches.

The Broncos’ Stephen Hobbs scored the first goal of the match at 5:30 in the first period, but Cal scored the next 12 goals, including three in a row by Warden in the first quarter. Hobbs finally ended the Bears’ run with a score with 47 seconds left in the third period.

Cal’s match against No. 3-ranked Stanford next Saturday is a key MPSF contest for seeding for the MPSF Tournament, Nov. 27-29, in Los Angeles. Of the Bears’ four losses this season, three have come in the hands of defending NCAA champion USC (whom Cal upended in the 2006 and 2007 national championship). Cal’s other loss was 8-7 to Stanford, Sept. 20 at the NorCal Invite at Stanford. However, the Bears have the distinction of handing the Cardinal one of their two losses on the year, 10-8, in the semifinals of the UCI Invitational Oct. 11. Stanford’s other loss was 13-12 in overtime to USC this past Saturday in Los Angeles.

Men’s Soccer beats Stanford 1-0. Can football do the same??

STANFORD, Calif. – Jacob Wilson scored his first goal of the season at an opportune time, giving California a 1-0 upset of No. 13/17 Stanford to close out the regular season on Saturday night at the Cardinal’s Laird Q. Cagan Stadium. The senior defender scored in the 21st minute, and the Golden Bears held on thanks in part to Cal sophomore goalkeeper David Bingham’s five saves. Cal, which swept its rival in this year’s two-game season series, improved its overall record to 9-8-1 (3-6-1 Pac-10). Stanford ended the regular season with a 10-5-2 record (4-4-2 Pac-10).

Wilson had just one point from his lone assist this year prior to tonight’s game. At the 20:36 mark, Cal freshman midfielder Tony Salciccia passed to junior forward Andrew Wiedeman, who crossed the ball. Wilson collected the cross, beat a Stanford defender and shot past goalkeeper John Moore with his left foot to score.

Cal’s win snapped a six-game winless streak that began after a 4-1 win over Oregon State on Oct. 11 in Berkeley. Two of the Bears’ last three victories have been against Stanford, which lost to Cal, 1-0, on Oct. 2 at Edwards Stadium.

“This is the healthiest we have been in the past four weeks, and it showed tonight,” Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. “The players put in an outstanding performance against a great Stanford team. If you really look at it, out of the 10 weekends we played this year, seven of them have been excellent weekends. We had a couple of hiccup weekends when our injuries were at their worst. The NCAA has every right to invite whoever they want to the tournament. We’ve got our fingers crossed.”

Twist, you have posted November 16’s DBD on November 15. Is that legal?

Please do!

Have we not even denied to one of our own that he saw a Condor solely for your amusement?

It was a condor I tells ya, a condoooorrrrrr!!!

I also saw a baby driving a car and a dog driving a schoolbus that day.

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm?domain=Political%20Networks

This needs to happen!

Was going to post this in the Revelling in Victory thread, but it’s slightly off-topic I suppose, so let’s discuss it here.

During the game, when it looked as if we were going to win, some students around me discussed rushing the field. Like many here, I saw this as Arizona. Sure, they were ranked in the top 25, but it’s Arizona. If you told me my freshman year that we’d rush the field after beating Arizona, I’d smack you.

So when the game ended and a couple students started trickling onto the field, I thought that realistically, we should only rush the field after defeating a top five team or after the Big Game. Tennessee was seen here as a dumb reason for rushing the field, but I supported that one. But I said “screw it” and joined the students in rushing the field.

I suppose there was a particular reason for this one. It wasn’t just that we won. It was a lot of pent-up frustration from the Oregon, USC, and OSU games that was released in a meaningful victory. It was the post-Jahvid Best era starting off in a good way. I dunno if people here felt it was “embarassing” to have students rush the field for this, but being on the field after seeing Memorial Stadium rocking so loud (this being one week after seeing Memorial Stadium dead silent).

I apologise if what I’m saying makes no sense — I’m still drugged up from nyquil. But I’m curious to hear thoughts all around.

LINK

The three-year extension Harbaugh agreed to a year ago would run through the 2014 season. It was reportedly worth $1.25 million annually, making him the highest-paid coach in Stanford history.

The school put the contract on hold because of the poor economic climate.

“The timing was not great back in February,‘’ Bowlsby said. "But we’ve made progress and have a good plan in place.’’

Told that Stanford fans are concerned that Harbaugh, one of the hottest coaches in the country, might be pursued by Michigan (his alma mater) or an NFL team, Bowlsby said:

“Jim’s not going any place. No one should panic. Jim wants to be at Stanford "… I think he’ll tell you the same thing.’’

Asked about the status of his contract extension, Harbaugh smiled but declined to comment.

Tedford:

On Kevin Riley’s interceptions

He was trying to force it. The first one, we never throw to that guy in that route progression. He saw a guy running wide open but didn’t have his feet set and underthrew the ball. The next one, they brought a blitz off the edge and he was trying to throw the ball away. The middle of the field was open, but he threw it too high and let the safety peel back in. He was trying to throw it away all the way.

Full Big Game Week Rally Schedule, keep focused on this link.

Monday
Cable Car Rally in the City (Ghiradelli – Union Square) 10-12:30

Tuesday
Big Sail 12:00-1:30 St. Francis Yacht Club

Wednesday
Guardsmen (Battle of the Bands, Cal vs. Stanford) 11:45 @ Fairmont Hotel
MoMo’s 7:00

Thursday
Night Rally around campus: Begins at 8PM at bowles

Friday
John’s Bar and Grill 12:30
Schroeders 1:00
Trader Vics 12:00
Saylor and Hill 11:30
Claremont Country Club 1:00
Royal Exchange ~7:00
Schroeders ~7:00
Bonfire at the Greek ~7:00

LINK

The Stanford Band probably earned its way back to administrative segregation with a pointed yet stirring halftime tribute to “Girls Gone Wild” entrepreneur/tax evader/USC alum Joe Francis. It was a return to the band’s glory days as provocateurs, when they viewed a finger in the eye of the other school to be one knuckle short of success, and will probably get them a lecture from athletic director Bob Bowlsby and a sanction along the lines of “No more beer on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.”

Couldn’t find video of it yet.

After discussing it with Hydro, I actually agree it wasn’t a bad decision at all. Smart Football concurs.

The goal is, obviously, to maximize your chance of winning. If you punt, your chances of winning are your odds of stopping a streaking Manning who has just torched your defense the whole fourth quarter. He will have to drive about 70 yards. Because of his excellence in clock management, the two-minute warning, and their timeout, time was not really a factor. (The analysis would be much different if there was only, say, a minute left.)

If you go for it, your chance of winning hinges on two outcomes: (a) if you get the first down, you win the game; and (b) if you don’t get it, you still have a chance to stop manning. So your chance of winning if you go for it is the sum of (a) your chance of converting; and (b) your chance of stopping Manning from the 30 yard line.

My best estimation is that the odds of converting on fourth and two (around 60% for the league, so probably closer to 65% for New England) plus stopping Manning from the thirty are greater than your odds of merely stopping Manning from seventy or so. Remember, the decision is also context specific: Manning was playing great and they had a gassed defense.

So does the Advanced NFL Stats guy.

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount. However, these numbers are baselines for the league as a whole. You’d have to expect the Colts had a better than a 30% chance of scoring from their 34, and an accordingly higher chance to score from the Pats’ 28. But any adjustment in their likelihood of scoring from either field position increases the advantage of going for it. You can play with the numbers any way you like, but it’s pretty hard to come up with a realistic combination of numbers that make punting the better option. At best, you could make it a wash.

Hey guys, I need to know:
1) How long did it take you to download the Zona game torrent?
2) What were some of the avg download speeds you were getting? (yes I know this is redundant).
3) Did you have any trouble burning it?

LINK

Thirteen plays the Bears ran from scrimmage in the fourth quarter while they tried to protect a sliver of a lead, then mount a comeback, then protect another sliver of a lead. Eleven went through the steady Vereen, who gained 92 of his rushing yards in the final quarter after clawing for yardage for the first 45 minutes of play. Cal gained 131 yards in the fourth quarter; Vereen had 102 of them.

Averaging 10 carries a game this season, and suddenly thrust into the every-down role by the bitterest of circumstances, Vereen got stronger when he could have gotten tired, got better when he needed to be best. Not Best, but his best. As running backs coach Ron Gould said before the game, Shane Vereen would be good enough.

And the touchdown, again, was only the end of it.

It was an exciting run, a burst through the hole and then a track meet the rest of the way-the kind that Vereen, and Best, usually win. It was a run on which, Vereen said last week, he might start thinking about Best while he covered the final 10 yards.

White ink on eye black made it clear, though, that he wasn’t going to wait that long.

“I wouldn’t say (I was thinking about Best) the last 10 yards, but I would probably say the whole game,” Vereen said. “Coming back to the sideline after drives and seeing him, talking to him, I think everyone had No. 4 in their heads all game.”

LINK

Giorgio Tavecchio noticed a cut on his right shin during the fourth quarter on Saturday, an injury that required stitches after the game.

But the Cal kicker didn’t mind at all.

“I just thought it was fun,” Tavecchio said. “How often do the doctors have to put stitches on a kicker?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNMhCVjU6Fg

Never gets old.

How do I post a picture in a response????

Thanks…