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Cal Field Hockey beats No.14 Stanford 4-2

This win is the biggest one yet for the Golden Bears from their new Underhill Field home.

By Ruey Yen
It’s time for the 111th matchup between Cal and Stanford in Field Hockey.
Cal Field Hockey Facebook

How about that?

Continuing the fine effort all year long, Cal Field Hockey (8-6, 3-1 in America East) was able to triumph 4-2 against rival No.14 Stanford in what is easily the biggest home win in the two year history of Underhill Field. Bears took an early 2-0 lead in the first half and never looked back.

Junior Captain Melina Moore put the Bears on the board first.

Freshman superstar Megan Rodgers than scored her team leading 14th 15th goal of the year on this fine effort.

Stanford struck first in the 2nd half when their own freshman star Zanolli beats Cal’s goalkeeper Danielle Mentink.

Bears answer back by scoring on a set play off a corner. Mara Gutierrez was credited with that goal. After Stanford opt to pull their keeper with 7 minutes left, Rodgers added her 15th 16th goal of the year by scoring into an empty net.

Stanford got another goal when Frances Carsten found the back of the net on a set play, but that would be all.

Find the Pac-12 Networks recap of the match below.

Bears will finish the regular season with the last home match of the season vs. UC Davis on Friday night at 6pm PT before a trip down to The Farm for a 3pm PT match on next Sunday (again on the Pac-12 Networks).

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!

In addition to Cal Football, the most pleasant surprise this fall for Cal Athletics has got to be Cal Field Hockey. Even with the current 3 match losing streak (all the losses were by just 1 goal), the Golden Bears are 7-6 on the year with a 2-1 record in America East. Bears will look to improve that America East West Division record when they welcome rival Stanford Cardinal (8-5, 2-0 in America East) to Underhill Field this afternoon. This is the 111th all time matchup between the two programs.

Cal Field Hockey has overcame two seasons of not having a home field (due to the Cal Athletics snafu that changed Maxwell Field into a football only practice facility) and one with a barely finished Underhill Field (it was “bring your own chair” last year) to hopefully have their first winning season since 2011 (that team went 16-4). Leading the way for the Bears is freshman Megan Rodgers (no relation to that famous Cal alum A-A-Ron) who is the 2nd most prolific freshman scorer in the country with 14 goals.

Bears’ offense is top 20 in two categories: assist per game at 2.33 (16th best) and points per game at 7.67 (20th best). Femke Delissen and Lindsay Mathison lead the way with 7 and 6 assists, respectively.

In addition to Rodgers, the other top goal scorers for the Bears are Melina Moore with 5 (2015 Freshman of the Year and the Bears’ goal scoring leader last year with 6) and Katrina Carter with 4 (who led the Bears in assist last year with 4). In case it was not obvious, the Cal offense has really took a big leap forward in 2017.

Defensively, sophomore Danielle Mentink is the starter after seeing limited action as a freshman last year. Mentink allows 1.65 goals per match while making 57 saves for a save percentage of 0.747. She is pictured below with Cal Men’s Soccer goalkeeper Drake Callender.

Cal Bears have already earned two wins over top 25 ranked opponents. Bears defeated on the road, No.21 UMass 2-1 and No.24 Pacific 4-1. Bears have also came close against No.7 Syracuse (0-2 season opening loss) and No.6 Penn State (1-2 loss last weekend from a neutral site of Columbus, OH). Stanford is currently ranked 14th in the country.

Bears have a RPI of 35 before the recent 3-2 loss at Pacific on Friday. Stanford has a RPI of 13.

It will take plenty of teamwork for the Bears to finish on top of the America East West Division. The major obstacle will likely be Stanford, who recently snapped their own 3 match losing streak with a 5-0 rout of UC Davis (In case you are wondering, UC Davis, Pacific, Stanford, and Cal are the only 4 Field Hockey schools in the West).

Corinne Zanolli with 8 goals and 7 assists is the woman to watch for Stanford. Zanolli is probably Megan Rodgers’ main competition for America East Freshman of the Year honor. Marissa Cicione and Kristina Bassi has 7 and 5 goals, respectively.

Between the pipes for Stanford is Kelsey Bing. Bing has allowed 1.53 goals against per game while making 87 saves on the year. Her saving percentage is 0.813.

Today is the first of two regular season matches against the Cardinal. Bears will close the regular season at Stanford on next Sunday, October 22nd at 3pm PT on the Pac-12 Networks.

California Golden Bears (7-6, 2-1 in America East) vs. No.14 Stanford Cardinal (8-5, 2-0 in America East)

Where: Underhill Field (Berkeley, CA)

When: 1 pm PT

TV: Pac-12 Networks

GO BEARS!

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