Golden Medals: Berkeley is Bear Territory, Bears defeat ranked visitors in all sports

Ranked or not, opponents had a hard time this past week in Bear Territory. Inspired by the big Cal Football upset over then No.8 Washington State on Friday Night, Cal Athletics across various sports defended home field against all visitors, including the biggest home win, thus far, for Field Hockey at their new Underhill Field home.

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Cal Women’s Soccer (12-2-1, 5-1-1 in Pac-12) runs win and shutout streaks to 4 (and counting)

After that disappointing weekend against the Arizona schools, the Golden Bears have been on a mission in winning 4 straight Pac-12 games, all by shutouts. Senior goalie Emily Boyd now has 9 on the year, she is in striking distance of equaling and surpassing the single season record of 11, accomplished by Boyd (and the great Cal defense before her) in the last two years.

Cal 2, Washington State 0

A day after the Cal Football win over WSU in Memorial Stadium, Cal Women’s Soccer also defended their home field at Edwards Stadium against the visiting Cougars. Bears got a goal apiece in each half of this match. Miranda Nild scored her 5th goal of the year before Kayla Fong scored the first goal of her Cal career. Emily Boyd only needed to make 3 saves for this clean sheet.

Cal 1, Oregon State 0

On yesterday, the Bears pushed their winning streak to 4. In the penultimate home match of the season (although if the Bears can keep up its current hot streak to close out the year, they should open the NCAA at home), Bears got a first half goal from New Zealand freshman Daisy Cleverley (header off a Kelly Fitzgerald free kick). Boyd made 4 saves for her 4th consecutive shutouts.

Golden Bears will celebrate their seniors on Sunday, before the Oregon match at 11 am PT. Unlike these last two matches, that one will be on the Pac-12 Networks.

Bears will then close the year with the tough gauntlet against the top 3 teams in the Pac. Bears will visit USC next Thursday before at trip to UCLA next Sunday. The regular season will end at The Farm against the current No.1 ranked team in country, rival Stanford. Even with Stanford in the driver’s seat with a perfect 7-0 record, the Pac-12 title will be decided in the coming two weekends when the Bay Area and the LA teams meet.

Did You Know: Cal freshman Kailee Gifford was the field goal kicker on her high school football team. You know, Cal football kicker Matt Anderson is a senior this year...

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Cal Men’s Soccer (9-4, 4-2 in Pac-12) upsets Washington, falls to Oregon State in road heartbreaker

Another Cal team that upset a better ranked road opponent last weekend was Cal Men’s Soccer. Golden Bears defeated the visiting Huskies to vault over them in the rankings.

Cal 2, Washington 1

Off a free kick just outside the box, Cal captain Jose Carrera-Garcia scored the game deciding goal in dramatic fashion as the Bears downed the Huskies in an exciting match last Sunday. Shinoya Kadono scored his team leading 6th goal (and then took a selfie with a fan/friend) before the Huskies equalized on a goal by Luke Hauswirth. In the 77th minute, JCG used his magic to put the Bears ahead for good.

Cal 1, Oregon State 2 (OT)

Up in the rainy Pacific Northwest yesterday, the Bears had some trouble adjusting to the wet condition. After two Bears defender colliding, Cal essentially gifted the home Oregon State Beavers a goal early in this one. Bears bounced back from the first half goal deficit by dominating the chances in the 2nd half. With possessions and opportunities came good things - AKA a somewhat questionable call in the Bears’ favor that resulted in a PK. Jose Carrera-Garcia scored his 4th goal of the season on the penalty to knot things.

Although the Bears dominated the chances in the 2nd half and OT, a costly freekick in OT turned into a solid OSU scoring chance. When Cal goalie Drake Callender punched the ball with a low angle, the ball bounced right off the torso of a Beaver to ricochet into the goal for the golden goal.

With Stanford’s road 2-1 win over Washington yesterday, the Bears are now 4 points behind the Cardinal for the lead in the Pac-12 men’s soccer table. Bears will next face the tough test of a rematch at the Huskies on Sunday at 5 pm PT.

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Cal Men’s Water Polo (15-1) routs ranked visitors

Big match for Cal Men’s Water Polo on this Saturday when the Bears visit UCLA for a Pac-12 Network televised match at 11 AM PT. Bears are seeking revenge for their lone blemish on the season, a close 8-9 loss to the Bruins.

Before that, the Bears had no issues against the visiting ranked teams in No.6 UC Irvine and No. 16 San Jose State. The 3rd ranked Golden Bears routed UC Irvine 18-8 before finishing the weekend with a 20-6 win over San Jose State.

Luca Cupido led the Golden Bears with 11 total goals in two matches (6 vs. UCI, 5 vs. SJSU); not too surprisingly, Cupido was named MPSF Player of the Week. Bears also played great defense to hold both opponents below 10 goals.

After the test of visiting No.2 UCLA on Saturday, the Bears will also visit No.8 Long Beach State on Sunday. Then, the Bears will host their home finale on November 4th against USC before closing the regular season at Stanford on November 9. I don’t know why the Big Splash is on a Thursday this year (even if that Saturday is Veterans’ Day).

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Cal Field Hockey (8-6, 3-1 in America East) seeks to win conference division title

Thanks to the big 4-2 win over rival Stanford (then 14th ranked) last Sunday (detailed in my post on that match linked above), Bears are in the driver’s seat in their quest for the top seed in the AE West division.

Of course, there are plenty of work to be done this weekend as the regular season comes to an end. Bears will host UC Davis in the home finale tonight at 6 pm PT from Underhill Field before a trip to Stanford for part 2 of the Big Stick (is that the correct term for this rival or is Big Stick a term of Lacrosse?) on Sunday at 3 pm PT on the Pac-12 Networks.

With two more goals for 16 in the year, Cal freshman Megan Rodgers earned her 3rd Conference Freshman of the Year honor.

After the regular season, the America East conference championship will take place from Lowell, Massachusetts from November 2nd to 5th.

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Cal Volleyball (11-8, 2-6 in Pac-12) looks to end losing streak when they are back home this weekend

Missing out on all the home fun is Cal Volleyball who had 4 straight tough road matches. Bears dropped both matches at USC and at UCLA last weekend.

Against USC, the Bears were surprisingly competitive in 3 of the 4 sets, including the opening one when they opt to not play either of the two regular setters (Albrecht and Potter) until the very end. Against UCLA, only 1 of the 3 sets was competitive.

Regardless, the Bears are back in Berkeley this weekend to host Washington State and No.14 Washington. Bears have a 8 match home winning streak that they want to continue. Both of the weekend matches are on the Pac-12 Networks. A home sweep would go a long way toward the Bears’ hope to return to the NCAA tournament this year.

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Cal Women’s Golf placed 4th at Stanford Intercollegiate

Sophomore Jiyoon Jang earned her first top 10 finish in her Cal career as the Golden Bears overall had a great outing at the Stanford Intercollegiate this past week. Bears finished the first round in 6th place but climbed and hold on to 4th place in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

Bears will next play at Hawaii for the Pac-12 Preview on Monday/Tuesday.

Team

4. California, +28 (295+289+296=880)

Individual

T8. Jiyoon Jang, +2 (75+68+72=215)

T17. Marianne Li, +6 (73+72+74=219)

T21. Cindy Oh, +8 (72+74+75=221)

T39. Marthe Wold, +13 (75+76+75=226)

T39. Maria Herraez, +13 (76+75+75=226)

GO BEARS!