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Cal Olympic Sports Weekly Recap

Men's Soccer earns No.1 ranking for the first time in program history. Also undefeated Women's Soccer and a victorious Cal Men's Golf team highlight this past week in Cal Olympic Sports.

By Ruey Yen
LEastCoastBears

Both of Cal's soccer teams continue to be undefeated through this past week when they each played two matches. For that, Cal Soccer as a whole is our Team(s) of the Week.

Cal Men's Soccer

Congratulation to Cal Men's Soccer (5-0-1) for achieving the No.1 ranking in the nation for the first time in program history.

Some quotes from the article:

"As a former player, it's still great to be able to keep tabs on and see the fantastic start the team has had," said former Cal forward Calen Carr, now with the Houston Dynamo. "It's a momentous occasion to be ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in program history.

FC Dallas midfielder Andrew Jacobson, Carr's former Cal teammate, echoed his sentiments.

"It's unbelievable," Jacobson said. "The ranking at this point isn't really that important, but what is really important is how they go about doing it. Kevin brought his philosophy to Cal, and he does it the correct way - playing good soccer and a purpose. It's great to see a great style working."

Senior Steve Birnbaum also earned some more individual accolades with two more goals this past week.

How the Bears got to number 1 is by defending their home pitch this past week with two dominant victories.

Cal 3, Colgate 0

SCORING SUMMARY

Goal Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description
1. 12:32 CAL Sundly, Alec (1) Casiple, Seth Casiple chipped ball over D, Sundly scores past gk
2. 53:32 CAL Bonomo, Stefano (2) Hallisey, Connor Hallisey shot, saved, rebound to Bonomo, who scored from close
3. 76:11 CAL Birnbaum, Steve (4) Casiple, Seth corner by 10 found 15, who headed in his 4th goal of the year

Cal 3, College of Charleston 1

SCORING SUMMARY

Goal Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description
1. 11:47 CAL Birnbaum, Steve (5) Dean, Christian; Bonomo, Stefano 2 Dean sent thru ball to 9 to 15, shot from close, goal
2. 19:36 CAL Bonomo, Stefano (3) Sundly, Alec Sundly long curving pass, 9 run on, shot, goal
3. 27:34 CAL Jalali, Omid (1) (unassisted) Jalali steals ball soon after subbing in, dribbles in, shoots, scores
4. 30:35 COFC Rajpaul, Xavier Coons, Tucker; Peterson, Troy

Up Next:

Bears will defend their top ranking when they host Santa Clara on Friday at 4:30 PM before starting conference plays the following week. With home matches in the next two weeks, there are plenty of opportunities to go check out and support your top ranked Men's Soccer in person.

Cal Women's Soccer

With a draw and a win, Women's Soccer is also still undefeated with a record of (6-0-2)

Cal 1, Santa Clara 1

On the road down in South Bay, the Bears battled the Broncos hard for a 1-1 tie. Bears had to withstood a strong effort from the ranked 22/13 Broncos team as Cal goalie Emily Kruger made a career high 11 saves.

SCORING SUMMARY:

24:43 Cal -- Mercik, Rachel (Onumonu, Ifeoma)
75:13 SCU -- Jackson, Sarah (unassisted)

SAVES:

California 11 (Kruger, Emily 11), Santa Clara 6 (Tostanoski, Andi 6)

Cal 4, St. Mary's 2

On the Pac-12 Networks, the Bears jumped out to a quick 2-0 half time lead before the Gaels stormed back to tie things up. By being at the right place at the right time, Cal's Sam Witteman added two more goals for a hat trick for the day to seal the win for the Bears. Cal remains a perfect 3-0 at home this year.


SCORING SUMMARY:

8:08 Cal -- Onumonu, Ifeoma (unassisted)

24:03 Cal -- Witteman, Samantha (Comeau, Taylor)

46:37 SMC -- Madrid, Melissa (Campos, Briana; Shimkus, Vicki)

61:54 SMC -- Madden, Melinda (unassisted)

75:25 Cal -- Witteman, Samantha (Comeau, Taylor)

80:12 Cal -- Witteman, Samantha (Daughetee, Genessee)

SAVES:

Saves: SMC 8 (SCHMIDT, Kaeli 8), California 0

Up Next:

Conference play begin this week with the Bears making a tough road trip to Utah on Friday. Bears will play one final non-conference match on Monday at San Francisco. Overall, the Pac12 conference should be quite strong in soccer yet again. Furd is ranked 2nd while UCLA 4th in the coaches' poll.


Cal Volleyball

In what is supposed to be just a tune up, Cal Volleyball suffered another upset loss, this time at the hands of UC Davis.

UC Davis 3, Cal 1: 12-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-20

Bears were led by senior Adrienne Gehan's 19 kills and 16 digs. Freshman setter Alyssa Jensen also got to run the Cal offense for a set. From the listening to the game, it sounds like the Bears got away from the solid fundamentals displayed earlier in the season to allow UC Davis to get one of their best win in their program history.

With only one match this week, the Bears did get some extra rest this weekend, according to Diggin' It with Adrienne Gehan.

In case you missed it, check out my Volleyball conference play preview from last week.

Up Next:

Bears host Furd in the Big Spike tonight at 7:30 PM. The match is also on the Pac-12 Networks. Check back here for the gamethread as well as a quick preview.

After that, the Bears will host Arizona on Friday night at 8 PM. This match is also broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks (and we will have another gamethread).

Cal Field Hockey

Cal traveled down to the Farm for the first of the two (at least) annual Field Hockey contest between Cal and Stanfurd. While the Cal's goalie, Courtney Hendrickson made a career high in saves with 12, the result favored Furd (3-0 victory to Furd).

The match was broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks with the highlights below.


Up Next:

Cal Field Hockey next host Pacific on Friday night at 7 PM.

Cal Swimming and Diving

The Cal swimming teams participated in Cal Poly's King and Queen of the Pool competition where one swimmer of each sex is crowned for having the lowest combined time in in the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free and 100 individual medley. The format is explained by Men's Head Coach Dave Durden in the video below, along with interviews with three time defending "King of the Pool", Marcin Tarczynski.

Given the success of the Cal swimming program in recent years, the future sure look bright in the near future with freshmen winning these contests.

Up Next:

The Women travel up to Oregon State for a meet this Friday, while the Men participate in the Tiburon Mile swim.


Cal Men's Golf

Men's Golf participated in a tournament at St. Mary's earlier this week and it was basically no contest. Golden Bears came out on top by 30 strokes.

FINAL TEAM LEADER BOARD (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds/54 of 54 holes)
1. Cal (288-282-284 – 854, -10)
2. Oregon (297-293-294 – 884, +20)
3. San Diego (304-287-295 – 886, +22)
4. St. John’s (298-291-298 – 887, +23)
5. Saint Mary’s (294-294-301 – 889, +25)

While the top individual play went to a San Diego golfer, Cal's Michael Weaver was only a stroke behind.

FINAL PLAYER LEADER BOARD – CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds/54 of 54 holes)
2. Michael Weaver 70-70-70 – 210 (-6)
3. Brandon Hagy 71-71-69 – 211 (-5)
T8. Michael Kim 78-68-72 – 218 (+2)
*T12. Pace Johnson 71-76-73 – 220 (+4)
T12. Shotaro Ban 69-73-78 – 220 (+4)
T34. Joël Stalter 78-73-73 – 224 (+8)
*Playing as an individual

Up Next:

The team travel to Ohio for the Jack Nicklaus Invitation on Sunday and Monday (hosted by Ohio State). Look for the Golden Bears to excel in an event bearing the name of the "Golden Bear".

Cal Men's Water Polo

Men's Water Polo hosted a huge tournament, the NorCal Invitational, with all the top teams in the nation.

Bears started out very strong with dominant wins over Air Force (17-8) and Long Beach State (15-10).

In the semis, the Bears faced UCLA and got edged 6-5. In the third place match, Bears lost to Furd (12-10).

Bears will have plenty of opportunities to get revenge on UCLA and Furd later this year.

Up Next:

Bears play at Davis on Saturday before making their 2013 Pac-12 Networks debut on Saturday, October 5 at 10:30 AM when they host Pacific.

Cal Men's Tennis

Men's Tennis played in the Napa Valley Classic this past weekend.

Bears started out strong in group stage but eventually Nikhil Jayashankar lost in the playoffs. [It's not clear to me whether this is a separate individual event or part of the team event.]

Ben McLachlan then got to play in the Napa Valley Challenger but fell short.

Up Next:

The Golden Bears next compete in the ITA Men's All-American Championship that runs from Sept. 30-Oct. 6 in Tulsa, Okla., and in the Aggie Invitational from Oct. 4-6 at UC Davis.

GO BEARS!

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