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Women's Soccer
CHICAGO - California Golden Bears' senior defender Samantha Witteman was selected to the Under-23 United States Women's National Team, U-23 head coach and USWNT assistant coach Steve Swanson, U.S. Soccer announced earlier this week. Swanson and Janet Rayfield, who are running the first camp of 2016, named a 26-player roster for the first U-23 camp of the calendar year.
"It is a great honor for Sam to be invited in with the U-23 U.S. national team, but richly deserved," head coach Neil McGuire said of the camp invite. "She had a marvelous senior season as a result of years of dedication to her development. We are all very happy for her."
The camp will be held at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, California, from Jan. 18-25. It concludes with a match against the full women's national team from the Republic of Ireland on Monday, Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. PT at the National Training Center.
BALTIMORE - Former California Golden Bears defender/forward Samantha Witteman was selected 10th overall in the first round of the National Women's Soccer League Draft by the Orlando Pride on Friday morning in Baltimore at the Baltimore Convention Center. Witteman became the first former Bear drafted by a professional women's club since Alex Morgan was the first overall choice of the Women's Professional Soccer's Western New York Flash in 2011. Morgan is also a member of the Pride, after being acquired by Orlando in October in a trade with Portland Thorns FC.
"We are so proud of Sam," California head coach Neil McGuire said on Friday from the NWSL Draft Baltimore. "This is an incredible opportunity for her to be part of something very special. Coach (Tom) Sermanni is an exceptional coach and will be a wonderful mentor for Sam."
Women's Tennis
Bears Dominate Cal Winter Invite Day 1: Cal Wins 16 Singles And 4 Doubles Matches On Friday
BERKELEY - After a start delayed by wet courts, the Cal Winter Invitational got all of its matches in on the first day of the three-day affair on Friday, as the host Golden Bears won 20 matches. The day featured the Bears' return to action after the winter break and the collegiate debut of Cal freshman Maria Smith.
Early morning rains pushed the start of the matches to roughly 11:20 a.m. at the Hellman Tennis Complex and the Channing Tennis Courts. Cal - now with a 10-player roster - went 16-4 in singles and 4-0 in doubles on Friday.
"I was pleased," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had a slow start due to some weather issues, but once we were able to get out onto the courts, we were prepared and ready to go. It's good to get out on the courts and get some of the kinks out after not having competition for a little while. I thought we started off well in the doubles and were able to maintain that momentum through two rounds of singles. We were happy to get a good amount of tennis in today."
Men's Tennis
No. 21 Cal Falls At No. 29 Tulsa, 4-3: Bergevi, Griffith & Wikberg Win In Singles
TULSA, Okla. - The 21st-ranked Golden Bears bounced back from losing the doubles point to No. 29 Tulsa and seeing their top two singles players lose to force a 3-3 tie with the Golden Hurricane. But Cal ended up losing to their host, 4-3, when sophomore J.T. Nishimura fell to Tulsa's Mitchell Pritchard, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).
The Bears opened the dual-match season with a 0-1 record, while Tulsa - which beat Oral Roberts, 7-0, earlier on Friday - opened at 2-0.
The Cal duo of senior Mads Engsted and junior Filip Bergevi knocked off South African brothers Okkie and Francois Kellerman, 6-2, in doubles. But Tulsa clinched the doubles point when Dylan McCloskey and Matthew Kirby upset Cal's 59th-ranked Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat, 6-4, and the Bears' Nishimura and Billy Griffith lost to Juan Matias Gonzalez and Carlos Bautista, 6-4.
Women's Water Polo
No. 4 Bears Open Season Prepared And Confident
BERKELEY - The California Women's Water Polo team begins the 2016 season this weekend at the LouStrong Memorial at San Jose State. The Bears will meet Cal State Monterey and No. 10 Pacific on Saturday and Sonoma State and Bakersfield on Sunday.
Cal is coming off back-to-back appearances in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships, and begins this season ranked No. 4 in the preseason CWPA Top-20. The Bears will have a new look this year as All-Americans Dora Antal, Roser Tarrago and Anna Illes are each taking a redshirt season to train with their respective national teams with the hope of qualifying for the Summer Olympics this August.
National Football League
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