Women’s Soccer beats ASU:

BERKELEY – The California women’s soccer team netted a 3-2 Pac-10 Conference victory in overtime against Arizona State on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. Redshirt junior Lisa Kevorkian scored the game-winning goal in the 98th minute to push the Golden Bears to 10-7-1 overall and 4-4-0 in the Pac-10 while the Sun Devils fall to 7-7-3 and 0-6-0 in conference play.

“Our team performed well today in a very difficult game,” Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. “We must credit Arizona State as they played hard. Cal showed great resolve to prevail in overtime.”

After taking five shots through the first 97 minutes of play, Kevorkian put one through at 97:36 for her team-leading fourth gamewinner of the 2009 season. Katie Suits was credited with the assist.

“I’ve never been on the bottom of a dog pile before – it was a great feeling,” Kevorkian said of her team’s celebration following her goal. “When Suits crossed the ball, I knew I had to get a piece of it so I jumped as high as I could and hoped for the best. With golden goals, it’s do or die. I just put all my weight behind it.”

With her Sun Devils trailing, 2-1, Alexandra Elston made things interesting in the 54th minute, when she did a half-bicycle kick off a header from Bianca Doller to even the score at 2-2 and eventually force overtime.

VBall beats USC:

BERKELEY – Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura led the California volleyball team with 22 kills as the No. 14 Golden Bears took out No. 16 USC in four sets (25-19, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20) Saturday, Oct. 31, at Haas Pavilion. Cal moved to 13-8 on the year with a 6-5 Pac-10 record as the Women of Troy fell to 15-8 overall and 4-7 in the Pac-10. Junior setter Carli Lloyd dished out a match-high 46 assists and moved ahead of Holly McPeak (1987-89) into third for all-time career assists at Cal with 3,829. Lloyd added four kills (1e, 12att, .250) and five blocks with 10 digs to log her sixth double-double of the year.

Cutura attacked efficiently again as she posted her 22 kills on 45 attacks (6e) to log a .356 attack rate and added seven digs. Senior libero Kristen Kathan led all players with 20 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey came up with 12 kills (8e, 37att, .108) to go with her 11 digs to post her sixth double-double of the season along with Lloyd. Senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley spurred the Bears with 13 kills (4e, 23att, .391) and had a match-high seven blocks. The Bears posted a .241 attack percentage as they logged 58 kills on 137 attacks (25e) and took home the blocking edge, 12.0-11.0.

USC senior outside hitter Jessica Gysin led the Trojans with 14 kills (7e, 46att, .152) and had nine digs with two service aces. The Bears held USC’s sophomore outside hitter Alex Jupiter to a paltry -.023 attack percentage with 12 kills (13e, 43att). Trojan senior libero Alli Hilgren led USC with 14 digs. As a team, the Trojans put up 47 kills (30e, 149att) and attacked at a .114 percentage.

The Trojans’ junior middle blocker Audrey Eichler earned her eighth kill of the match (3e, 21att, .238) to knot the fourth set for the sixth time at 20-all. The Bears responded to force Eichler into a hitting error before they really stepped on the gas to close out the match, 25-20. First, freshman middle hitter Kat Brown took a quick set from Lloyd to put Cal up by two, 22-20. Lloyd then went up one-on-one with Gysin and stuffed the USC attacker for the three-point lead. Cutura took a high ball from Lloyd on the next play to crush her 22nd kill of the match and set the Bears up with match point. Kathan’s fourth straight serve set USC up with Gysin coming from the left for an attack but Lloyd and Brown met at the net to turn Gysin away once more and seal the Cal victory. The Bears posted a .231 attack percentage in the final set with 15 kills (6e, 39att) and held the Trojans to a .140 attack rate with 14 kills (7e, 50att)

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Water Polo beats UC Davis, tearing carp up:

Led by two goals apiece from senior captain Spencer Warden, sophomore standout Ivan Rackov and redshirt freshman Spencer White, the No. 2-ranked Cal men’s water polo team (16-4) won at No. 16-ranked UC Davis (12-13) in a non-conference match Sunday, Nov. 1 at Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis. The Golden Bears had earlier this season upended the Aggies, coached by former Cal water polo player Steve Doten (1986-88), 12-4 Sept. 10 in Berkeley.

After stopping two early UC Davis extra-man opportunities, Cal crafted a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Warden put the Bears on the board at the 4:29 mark, sophomore Jack Stampfl, a Davis product, won a battle at two meters at 3:30, then junior Iosefa Tuiasau tapped in Cory Nasoff’s short skip shot in the intitial onslaught. Ryan Hagens broke the Bears’ scoring streak with his 6-on-5 goal early in the second, but Cal again managed three unanswered to hold a 6-1 edge at the halftime break. Rackov had both of his goals in the second frame, first firing in a long outside shot with 3:29 remaining, then planting a short lob in the final minute before the intermission.

The Aggies put up most of their offense in the fourth period. Colin Hicks drew a five-meter exclusion and made his own penalty shot with four minutes to go, bringing the score to 10-2 in Cal’s favor. Shortly after, Carlos Martinez delivered an assist to Anders MacCarthy on a counterattack, then scored a goal of his own in an extra-man spot with 25 ticks left.

The Bears next travel to southern California for a pair of noon MPSF matches. Cal faces UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Nov. 7, before taking on Long Beach State, coached by former Bear All-American and Olympian Gavin Arroyo, on Sunday, Nov. 8.

Womens XC 5th at Pac10s:

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Sophomore Deborah Maier’s sixth-place finish helped the California women’s cross country team take fifth overall at the Pac-10 championships Friday – the program’s highest placing since the Golden Bears were third in the 1988 conference meet. Cal claimed seventh place in the men’s competition.

Maier, who completed the 6000-meter course in 20:00.10, had the best showing for a Bear individual at Pac-10s since Elissa Riedy was also sixth in 1997. Maier also improved on last year’s team-best 41st-place finish at the ’08 conference championships.

In addition, freshman Ellie Keene crossed the line in the 20th position (20:37.14) and sophomore Keena Kohl was 31st in 20:57.50. The Bears also got strong performances from senior Alison Greggor (34th, 21:01.47), Rowena Tam (39th, 21:08.65) and sophomore Michelle Davis (40th, 21:10.80). Others competing for the Bears included Sofia Oberg (50th, 21:33.61), freshman Nicole Hough (56th, 21:45.94) and sophomore Taylor Dutch (59th, 21:51.27).

Washington captured the women’s team competition with 35 points with four runners among the top eight. Oregon second with 42 points, followed by Arizona State (3rd, 110), Stanford (4th, 111) and Cal (5th, 128).

“I’m really pleased for the women, who made a significant breakthrough with their fifth-place finish today,” head coach Tony Sandoval said. "We’ve had potential, but have fallen short before for one reason or another. Today was validation and payoff for their belief in each other and hard work. I know it will be a springboard for the bigger honor down the road.

Mens soccer loses 1-0 to OSU:

CORVALLIS, Ore. – California lost to Oregon State, 1-0, in a Pac-10 Conference clash on Sunday afternoon at Paul Lorenz Field. The Golden Bears, who split the season series with the Beavers, saw their record fall to 8-8-1 (2-6-1 Pac-10). Oregon State improved to 7-6-2 (3-5-0 Pac-10).

Cal is winless in its last six games. The Bears’ last win was against Oregon State, 4-1, on Oct. 11 in Berkeley.

This time, Oregon State’s Colin Mitchell scored the game’s lone goal in the 13th minute off an assist by Danny Mwanga.

Oregon State’s Colin Mitchell scored the game’s lone goal in the 13th minute off an assist by Danny Mwanga.

Junior forward Andrew Wiedeman took three of Cal’s eight shots. Bears sophomore goalkeeper David Bingham made three saves in 90 minutes.

Steve Spangler made one save for the Beavers, who outshot Cal, 9-8.

Randle, PC named to pre-season watch list:

Senior guards Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher have been named to the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Friday. Randle and Christopher are two of the 19 seniors selected in the 50-player list.

The watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2009-10 college basketball season. In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors will compile a mid-season team of the top 30 players in the nation. Then in March, the Naismith Trophy voting academy will vote to narrow the list to the four finalists. The Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T will be awarded at the 2010 NCAA Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis, Ind.

Notable Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year winners include Bill Walton, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and last year’s winner, Blake Griffin.

Kansas had three members of its squad on the watch list, while California was one of six schools to have two players listed. Arizona’s Nic Wise and Washington’s Isaiah Thomas were the other two Pac-10 players on the watch list.

Men’s Tennis doing well:

SAN FRANCISCO – California men’s tennis sophomore Nick Andrews defeated junior teammate Zach Gilbert in the singles back-draw final of the 2009 Battle of the Bay Classic Sunday, Nov. 1, at the California Club. The second-year Golden Bear fought it out for a 7-5 win in the first set before being taken to a tiebreaker in the second set. The two stayed step-for-step with each other until Andrews sealed the victory with an 11-9 win in the breaker.

The Bears will now turn their attention to the Saint Mary’s Invitational at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex in Moraga, Calif. next weekend (Nov. 6-8

Mens Water Polo tops UC Irvine:

Bolstered by a 5-0 run in the second period, the No. 2-ranked Cal men’s water polo team (15-4, 3-1) defeated No. 7-ranked UC Irvine (13-7, 1-2) in an MPSF match Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears again showed balanced scoring, led by three goals from junior Brian Dudley and two goals apiece from senior captain Spencer Warden and sophomore standouts Cory Nasoff and Charlie Steffens.

Warden scored the first two goals of the match for Cal in the opening period, only to see UCI come back on goals by Greg Enloe and Sam Figueroa to tie the contest, 2-2, after the first quarter. The Bear then separated themselves by scoring the next five goals in the second quarter on shots by sophomore Ivan Rackov, Steffens, Nasoff and two scores by Dudley.

The Anteaters’ Cole Bielskis finally stopped Cal’s run with score with 1:03 left in the first half, only to see junior Zach White score with 31 seconds in the half to give the Bears an 8-3 advantage.

Cal sophomore Luka Saponjic opened the third period scoring by converting a five-meter penalty shot to up the Bears’ lead to 9-3. The two teams then shared goals as Cal owned a 10-5 advantage at the end of the third quarter. UC Irvine ended up outscoring the Bears, 5-3, in the final period, but Cal hung on for the 13-10 victory to capture its third MPSF league match in a row.

Just thought I’d notify.

Will share thoughts later.

Dude, this is the greatest day of Texts From Last Night ever.

(513): You tried to wear your Jesus costume into Family Christian stores and say it was a book signing.

(252): I had sex with billy mayes last night. HE KEPT IN CHARACTER THE WHOLE TIME.

(843): if i dont get laid while im dressed as Tim Tebow, i’m just staying true to the costume.

THE AWESOMENESS NEVER ENDS!

haha….dude, wtf?

Ever since CGB North overthrew our delightful reigns, their society has been blossoming. Was it me that held them back this long?

The answer, clearly, is yes.

What do you guys think?

The fact is that Oregon made USC look like Washington State, which did about as good a job of corralling the Duck offense last month. This was the Duck team we saw at the end of last year, when they scored at least 35 points, went over 450 total yards and averaged more than seven yards per play in every game of a four-game winning streak to close the season, and that we roughly expected at the start of this year, instead of the inept nightmare we got in Boise on opening night. These are the Ducks that were steaming toward the Pac-10 championship and a likely national title shot after beating the Trojans in 2007 before an ACL injury to prolific quarterback Dennis Dixon submarined the season and left the crown for USC to assume again. Three years in a row now, we’ve seen Chip Kelly’s spread option offense at its nightmarish pinnacle for short stretches, and it firmly established itself as the dominant entity the conference Saturday night.

LINK

You can blame the offensive line and the special teams and the play calling and the dropped passes and the bad calls and the penalties. But even with all of that, if Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy want to win games, they should never have gotten rid of Favre. When he wanted to return, they should have welcomed him with open arms.

Favre is great, not just because of all the big stuff he does, but because of the little things he does. Things like coming out to boos from a crowd of nuts and then just grinning and winking at a teammate. Things like going to Greg Jennings, who may be hurt alongside the Vikings sideline and showing his concern and giving him a little razz when Jennings gets up. Jennings smiles back. Things like walking off the field near the very end of the game and having the field judge give Favre a pat on his hand.

Little things like that. Championship things. Things that a king does.

Things that a king does? Twist, why don’t you grin and wink at us when we boo you at our meetings?

Only three ranked vs ranked games that weekend, and none to special.
Iowa(4) vs Ohio State(16)
Notre Dame(22) vs Pittsburgh(13)
Arizona(18) vs California (20)

We’ll find out in a few hours!

Did Cal run the fumlerooskie on Sat? ABC kind of blew the coverage on that. I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDOy-RMIpF0

Re-watching the game right now. One dude with an interesting future is Sean Cattouse. That pass he broke up mirrored another he broke up in the Minnesota game (which was wrongly called pass interference). Both of those jumps and coverages required some really fluid athleticism, and he’s got very good size.

Wilner
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2009/11/02/cal-football-grading-the-week-9

Will it be the proverbial coming-of-age moment for Riley? Not if he turns around and throw three INTs Saturday against Oregon State.


But right now, it sure feels significant.

I view it as an advanced version of the fourth-quarter drive he directed at Minnesota — advanced because it was later in the game, the Bears were trailing, and it was a Pac-10 foe.

The entire game was much like Minnesota, only with higher stakes (conference game) and much more desperation in the fourth quarter.

* For the game, Riley was 27-44 for 351 yards and two touchdowns. If not for egregious drops by Jeremy Ross and Verran Tucker, Riley would have thrown for more than 400.

That said, he had three fumbles (lost two), including one at the Cal 3 yardline, and ASU’s pass defense is hardly one of the league’s best. (Stanford’s Andrew Luck picked it apart last week.)

* If Vereen’s 2nd-and-goal "pass" to Miller had been intercepted, it would have been one of the dumbest calls of the season.

But because it fell incomplete, it’ll be forgotten by Tuesday.

* The victory makes the Bears bowl-eligible, although that really was never an issue, and puts them on course for at least eight wins.

They should at least split their final four: Oregon State (home), Arizona (home), Stanford (road) and Washington (road).

* I thought Syd-Quan Thompson and Sean Cattouse played very well — Cal needed its playmaker and Thompson responded several times.

Not sure there’s a reason to play Marcus Ezeff again this season, save for injury-induced desperation.

Record: 6-2/3-2

Result: Won at Arizona State 23-21

Grade: B

Comment: I figure you can look at the victory in one of three ways:

1. Good thing the Bears were playing ASU.

With an ineffective running game, poor third-down execution, two turnovers, two missed field goals inside the 40 and a stunning 12 penalties (for 115 yards), they would not have beaten any of the top-tier teams in the conference.

The performance does not bode well for their prospects down the stretch, when they face three teams with five wins (Oregon State, Arizona and Stanford).

2. Yes, the Bears were sloppy. Yes, they were fortunate to be playing ASU. But they found a way to win a game they wouldn’t have won in the past.

How they did it doesn’t matter a lick — the victory will build momentum and confidence for the stretch run.

3. Evaluations 1 and 2 are both correct. It wasn’t impressive and the Bears have plenty of problems to correct, but a win’s a win and the confidence/momentum are invaluable.

I’d go with No. 3.

Next up: vs. Oregon State

Comment: Cal’s Nemesis No. 2 in the Tedford era (behind USC) comes to Berkeley, where it was last seen preventing the Bears from becoming No. 1 midway through the ‘07 season.

That was Riley’s first start — he was filling in for the injured Nate Longshore. Next week’s game will provide a nice snapshot of his progress (or lack thereof).

The Beavers aren’t as good defensively as they’ve been the past few years, but they can move the ball on anybody. QB Sean Canfield is smart and accurate. Jacquizz Rodgers is one of the top TBs in the conference, James Rodgers one of the best WRs.

The way Cal’s defense has played against comparably-talented attacks — and ASU is NOT not a comparably-talented attack — the Beavers should post a pretty sizable point total.

It’ll be up to Riley and Co. to exceed it.

The Beavers, it should be noted, did not need a last-second field goal to beat Arizona State. They went to Tempe and dominated.

Miller: Pac10 Power Rankings

I give you the top 5. I particularly enjoyed entry 2.

1. Oregon: The Ducks left no doubt against USC. None. Zero. Now, can they maintain the focus that got them here — the Pac-10 title within sight — or will they start to do most-muscular poses in their bathroom mirror? Because if they start to get impressed with themselves, a physical Stanford squad will give them a whipping Saturday.

2. USC: Hello, police? Yes, this is the Pac-10 blog. Yeah, thanks. Every day! Cool. No, I’m not the greatest. Not always. No, Washington beating Oregon was not a great pick. Look, I’m calling to report a missing team. Yeah, the Trojans. I know! I knowwww! Well, if you see them, please get them tell them to call the Pac-10 blog. We’re worried about them. There’s a rumor they’ll be in Tempe on Saturday, but we’re not sure who will show up.

3. Arizona: Every team has at least two conference defeats. Except Oregon, which has none. And Arizona, which has one. That means that if the Wildcats can hold serve, they could steal the crown from the Ducks on Nov. 21 in Tucson. Of course, they’d also need to get a win in the season-finale at USC.

4. Oregon State: The Beavers held on against UCLA. Now, can they win at California? If so, they likely return to the national rankings and put themselves in good position for a nice bowl game.

5. California: The Bears have returned to the national rankings, but they won’t officially move past their dreadful efforts vs. Oregon and USC until they beat top-half-of-the-Pac-10 teams. See above.

Anyone notice that the 4 ranked Pac10 teams in the BCS have a higher BCS ranking than they do in the other human polls? Interesting.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/4754/quick-poll-notes

I’ve been staring at this line in horror. I knew it’d be low, but not this low.

Oregon -5 at Furd

Other lines
Cal -7 vs Oregon State
USC -10.5 at ASU
Arizona -31 vs Wazzu
UCLA -4 vs UW

Houston -1.5 at Tulsa
Ohio State +3.5 at Penn State
Oklahoma -5.5 at Nebraska
LSU +9 at Bama

Motion to add this to the impeachment evidence.