First, I would like to apologize to any loyal readers about missing the Recap for last week. I have been traveling for a bit for these past couple of weeks. We are back this week with another quick (more abbreviated than I would prefer) glance of the Cal Olympic Sports landscape.
Cal Rugby
As we mentioned yesterday, a big congratulation to the Cal Rugby team for winning the PAC 7s Tournament. Winning the PAC 7s is the main goal of the fall for Cal Rugby in their fall preparation. Cal has been instrumental in the formation of the PAC 7s and has now been two time winner of this tournament. For the uninformed, Rugby 7s is a faster and shorter format of rugby that is gaining prominence for being both more TV friendly and the form of rugby that will be introduced in the next Olympics games.
Bears went a perfect 6-0 over their opponents over the two days, with a very impressive tally of tournament best points differential (+209), best try differential (+34) and most tries scored (38). Bears rolled over USC (66-0!), Washington (33-0), Colorado (38-5), and Arizona State (34-12) on Saturday. In the semifinal and final round, Bears beat Oregon State 42-7 and UCLA 22-0 in the final.
Up next, Bears will shift focus now to Rugby 15. For the second consecutive year, the Bears will play in the Varsity Cup, which will be broadcasted by NBC this year.
Cal Men's Soccer (11-1-2, 5-1-1 Pac-12)
Men's Soccer suffered the first loss of the season a week ago when they inexplicably lost 1-0 to an unranked San Diego team. Fortunately for the Bears, both No.2 Notre Dame and then No.3 Washington also lost to allow the Bears to retain the No.1 ranking.
Hosting conference foes in San Diego State and No.3 UCLA this past week in Berkeley, Cal Men's Soccer held on 3-2 to edge SDSU after jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, Bears continue the stretch of goal differential by allowing 5 unanswered goals between the second half of SDSU match and the beginning of the UCLA match. Bears eventually ended that streak when senior Alec Sudley answered with a goal but it was not enough as UCLA won 2-1. UCLA are currently at the top of the table for conference play, but that is misleading due to them playing two extra matches than the Bears. If Cal can win just one of those two extra matches, they can win the conference over UCLA (but Washington is still in the picture).
M. Soccer STANDINGS
Teams | Pts | Conf | Overall |
---|---|---|---|
UCLA | 18 | 5-1-3 | 9-3-4 |
CALIFORNIA | 16 | 5-1-1 | 11-1-2 |
WASHINGTON | 14 | 4-1-2 | 11-1-4 |
SAN DIEGO STATE | 8 | 2-5-2 | 5-9-2 |
STANFORD | 5 | 1-4-2 | 7-5-3 |
OREGON STATE | 2 | 0-5-2 | 7-7-2 |
Bears travel to the Pacific Northwest to play Oregon State and Washington, before ending the regular season at Stanfurd.
Cal Women's Soccer (10-4-5, 3-4-3 Pac-12)
Women's Soccer took a trip to Washington state this past week. Despite having been ranked for the bulk of the season, recent lackluster plays have the Bears on the fence in terms of making the NCAA tournament.
After only able to get just one goal against Wazzu to lose 3-1, Bears bounced back to make sure that the one goal is enough. Bears' regular keeper senior Emily Kruger has been solid all year, but she suffered a concussion and was out for the UW match. Regular backup received a redcard in the Wazzu match, so the shutout was turned by Maddie Julian in her very first start.
Celeste Boureille scored the winning goal, with the assist to Ifeoma Onumonu.
W. Soccer STANDINGS
Teams | Pts | Conf | Overall |
---|---|---|---|
UCLA | 26 | 8-0-2 | 16-1-2 |
WASHINGTON STATE | 19 | 6-3-1 | 13-3-3 |
STANFORD | 18 | 6-4-0 | 13-4-1 |
UTAH | 17 | 5-3-2 | 9-4-6 |
COLORADO | 14 | 4-4-2 | 12-5-2 |
ARIZONA STATE | 14 | 4-4-2 | 9-7-2 |
WASHINGTON | 13 | 3-3-4 | 7-8-4 |
CALIFORNIA | 12 | 3-4-3 | 10-4-5 |
ARIZONA | 10 | 3-6-1 | 8-7-4 |
USC | 10 | 3-6-1 | 8-9-2 |
OREGON STATE | 10 | 3-6-1 | 5-12-2 |
OREGON | 7 | 2-7-1 | 4-11-3 |
UCLA has clinched the conference title.
Last regular season match of the year for the Bears is a Big one. Bears will play Furd down at the Farm on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Match will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks.
Volleyball (14-7, 7-5 Pac-12)
Bears still No. 22 in this week's AVCA Top 25. #GoBears. #CalVolleyball.
— Cal Volleyball (@CalVolleyball) November 4, 2013
Adrienne Gehan is honored before the match for getting her 1,000th kill. #GoBears. #CalVolleyball. pic.twitter.com/2hR6jIuRom
— Cal Volleyball (@CalVolleyball) November 2, 2013
Against the always tough LA schools, the No.22 Bears record yet another split to likely stay in the top 25. Bears played the USC Trojans first on Friday. Despite yet another valiant effort against the top 5 ranked USC, the Bears fell short in 4 sets.
Knowing that a split of a week is much much better than being swept, the Bears bounced back in a big way in beating UCLA in 5 sets. In the two sets that Cal lost, UCLA was actually quite dominant. However, Bears got the points when they needed and managed to win two close sets, including coming from behind, to force a set 5. Bears won set 5 with the match point via a UCLA foot fault. Cal senior captain Adrienne Gehan again led the attack. Reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the week, Maddy Kerr also had a strong week.
Volleyball STANDINGS
Teams | Conf | Overall |
---|---|---|
WASHINGTON | 11-1 | 19-1 |
USC | 10-2 | 20-3 |
STANFORD | 9-3 | 16-5 |
CALIFORNIA | 7-5 | 14-7 |
COLORADO | 7-5 | 15-7 |
ARIZONA | 6-6 | 16-8 |
OREGON | 6-6 | 13-9 |
UTAH | 6-6 | 17-7 |
ARIZONA STATE | 4-8 | 15-9 |
UCLA | 3-9 | 12-10 |
WASHINGTON STATE | 3-9 | 16-9 |
OREGON STATE | 0-12 | 9-14 |
Volleyball will hit the road and play at the mountain schools, Utah and Colorado, this week.
Water Sports
Men's Water Polo
No.5 Cal still can't beat a top 4 team. Bears fell to UCLA by a score of 6-4. UCLA earned the interview below with the match on the Pac-12 Networks.
Men's Swimming
No.3 Cal Men's Swimming beat No.18 Wisconsin 151-131.
The Bears will again vie for an NCAA crown in 2014. Leading Cal will be two individual champions from 2012 –Tarczynski (200 individual medley) and junior Will Hamilton (200 butterfly) – plus four members (Fleming, Stubblefield, Gimondi, Messerschmidt) of title-winning relays. Additionally, Cal features standout sophomores Prenot (2013 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year) and Pebley (third in the NCAAs in the 200 backstroke), plus star recruit Murphy, one of the nation’s top young backstrokers who was third in the 200 back at this summer’s U.S. national championships.
Women's Swimming
The top ranked Cal Women's swimming had no problem beat Wisconsin in a duel meet. Bears won 14 of 16 events to win the meet 163-111.
Coming up next year:
The Bears have two remaining meets at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, hosting Arizona State Jan. 24 and Arizona Jan. 25. Both are combined with the men’s teams and will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
Field Hockey (6-11, 2-4 NorPac)
Field Hockey wrapped their regular season with a 1-0 loss in OT to Stanfurd. Bears' D was able to withstood the Furd attack without conceding a goal during the regulation.
In a season filled with injuries, Cal has taken on six ranked teams and played half of those to overtime.
NorPac conference play starts this Thursday for the Bears. Cal would need to win the conference tournament for the automatic berth (likely to the play-in game).
GO BEARS!