Golden Nuggets: Jordan Mathews picks up slack and leads Cal to conference opener victory

Women's Water Polo

Inside the Lair: Women's Water Polo Ready For Serious Business

By Jonathan Okanes, Cal Athletic Communications

BERKELEY - The 2015 season could be a special one for the Cal women's water polo team, and that was evident at the first day of practice Saturday at Spieker Pool.

The Bears , who graduated just one senior from last year's team that advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships, looked sharp during their two-hour training session. They ended practice with two periods of scrimmage - something the team typically doesn't do on the first day - and team captain Kelly McKee said there was an extra dose of excitement as the Bears began their journey for the 2015 campaign.

Women's Gymnastics

#14 Cal opens the season at the annual NorCal Classic.

Inside the Lair: California Rising

By Mara Rudolph

It was almost 9 a.m. in late September of 2010 when the text came in. Alicia Asturias (2011-14) and Dallas Crawford (2011-14) were in Anthropology 3C when they were summoned to their practice gym at the Golden Bear Rec Center.

The pair made a hasty exit from class and trekked up Dwight Way. Inside the gym, they found their teammates and then-head coach Cari DuBois (2003-11). Their leader stood before her California women's gymnastics squad, her face stoic and beet red. She didn't make eye contact.

"We're cut," she told the Bears, tears streaming down her face.

If you paid attention to Cal Athletics and the Cal women's gymnastics program five years ago, you probably know what happened next. Women's gymnastics, as well as the four other sports that were cut, were all reinstated thanks to generous support from donors and the community.

But what has happened since then has been nothing short of a modern-day sports myth, unheard of as women's gymnastics programs around the country have suffered cuts. Out of the flames, Cal has risen to national prominence, entering 2015 ranked 14th in the country with a roster rife with world-class talent.

Men's Soccer

Stefano Bonomo joins Golden Bears teammates Connor Hallisey and Seth Saiple at the MLS Combine.

Football

Sophomore Jeffrey Coprich was honored at the Allstate Sugar Bowl as part of the 2014 Allstate Good Works Team.

Women's Basketball

Sophomore Mercedes Jefflo led the Golden Bears to a 67-49 win over Utah with 17 points, a career-high.

Men's Basketball

Jordan Mathews led the Golden Bears with 31 points on an off-night for Tyrone Wallace to earn Cal a conference opener victory. The Bears next face Washington State today at 3 pm.

Golden Nuptials

Men's Soccer alumnus and midfielder for MLS's Houston Dynamo Servando Carrasco tied the knot with his long time Golden Bear girlfriend. You may have heard of her.

The best day ever. pic.twitter.com/k1SFv2uxDV

— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) January 3, 2015

Congrats to the happy couple! GO BEARS!!!

Bears in the Pros

Ravens get small talk, big gains with Justin Forsett

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Nine months ago Justin Forsett stepped off a plane in Jacksonville, Fla., unsure where he was going, but certain he needed to find someplace to ship his family's boxes to.

Maybe this was the end of the line for the NFL running back whose career since 2008 included two stints in Seattle, one stop in Indianapolis, another in Houston and one in Jacksonville? At 5 feet 8, 197 pounds, Forsett longed for the same opportunity in 2014 that he had more than a decade earlier when he showed up at Grace Preparatory Academy in Arlington, Texas, and politely reminded his coach he was a running back, not a slot receiver.

"I prayed for an opportunity like this," said Forsett, 29, who signed with the Ravens in April. Forsett carried the ball six times for 31 yards in 2013 for the Jaguars. "Baltimore called out of nowhere and offered me an opportunity and I just promised myself that every play, every snap I was going to give it my all like it was going to be my last."

Ravens running back Justin Forsett proves patience pays

Justin Forsett was at the bottom - maybe the end - of a not particularly notable NFL career last March. The Jacksonville Jaguars had released him after an injury-shortened season. He had no guarantee of another shot - or another yard.

Even then, in a telephone conversation with his former running backs coach at the University of California, Berkeley, Forsett kept faith, stayed ready - and waited.

"He said, 'Hey, something's going to happen. I'm just going to stay focused and keep working out and make sure that when that call does come I'll be ready go.' So that's what he did," said Ron Gould, former Cal-Berkeley assistant, now head coach at the University of California, Davis.