Cal Men's Soccer vs. Bradley Braves: NCAA 2nd Round Open Thread

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NCAA SECOND ROUND Sunday, November 24 | 1:30 p.m. PT Berkeley, Calif. (Edwards Stadium) NCAA Championship Central | Pac-12 Event Coverage @CalMensSoccer | Cal on Facebook

From (Cal Tournament Central)

The postseason is here for Cal Men's Soccer. In one of the most successful season in program history, despite not winning the conference, the Bears have played a bunch of the top teams in the country in UCLA, Washington, Maryland, and Georgetown and managed to win or draw (for the case of Washington) against all of them. Cal has also been ranked as the top team in the country for the first time in program history and stayed there for 6 weeks.

With the higher expectation has come higher pressure. With injury to captain and star defender Steve Birnbaum in the past few matches, the Bears have faltered quite a few times in their last few matches, with losses to No.1 UCLA, No.2 Washington, and a desperate Stanfurd squad that needed a win to make the NCAA tournament.

Besides the injury and the tough competition, the Bears also had to play many of those matches on the road. From the Daily Cal article:

"Three games in six days on the road did us no favors at all," said head coach Kevin Grimes. "There was just so much fatigue that was setting in for the group. This 11-day break has been awesome."

What one needs to note perhaps, is the small difference amongst the top teams in NCAA Men's Soccer, many of Cal's victories had come by a slim one goal margin; the same can be said of all of their losses as well. With such a small difference, hopefully the Bears can translate their home field advantage (up to 3 matches should they keep on advancing) into victories.

GO BEARS!

Some Cal Bears Stats: