Upset in the Bay Area Derby! Cal Men’s Soccer Defeats No. 6 Stanford

The matchup between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal, which began as a college football rivalry in 1892, is one of the oldest college rivalries in the United States.

The rivalry is older than some world-famous football derbies—a fiercely competitive soccer match between two bitter geographic rivals—including the North West Derby between English titans Manchester United and Liverpool (1894) and the “Clasico” between Real Madrid and Barcelona (1929).

Long out of NCAA Tournament contention, the Cal men’s soccer team (7-9-2, 3-7 Pac-12) closed out the 2018 season with the second contest of the Bay Area Derby, the biannual rivalry game against Stanford (11-3-4, 7-2-1 Pac-12), and won 1-0 in Stanford, Calif., Thursday evening.

“I told the team we are peaking at the right time. It’s unfortunate we’ve had some tough results and some tough injuries this year, but they played like they were in playoff form tonight,” California Head Coach Kevin Grimes recalled after his team’s victory.

With Thursday’s result, the Bears snapped a 10-match winless streak (0-9-1) against Stanford. California’s last victory over Stanford in the Bay Area Derby was a dramatic 1-0 thriller on Oct. 20, 2013. The Bears were ranked No. 1 in the country then.

Upset on “The Farm”

California senior Sam Junqua found fellow defender JJ Foe Nuphaus with a left-footed corner in the 84th minute to help the Bears notch the upset. Unmarked in the goal area, Nuphaus headed in a shot inside the near post in the 85th minute to end California’s season on a high note.

Nuphaus, who was called up to the Under-19 U.S. Men’s National Team earlier this season, dramatically scored his first career goal with the late header.

“I wasn’t going to go for the header, but Coach [Grimes] told me with five minutes left to go in,” Nuphaus said after the game. “I was able to sprint in, and I saw where the ball was going, so I just dove into it.”

Despite outshooting the Bears 12-10, the Cardinal hardly tested California. Stanford had only four shots on target in 90 minutes.

California goalkeepers Noah Texter and Drake Callender, who both saw minutes in the derby, made two saves each, helping the Bears record their fifth clean sheet of the season.

After the match, Stanford received its Pac-12 trophy. The Cardinal clinched a share of its fifth consecutive conference championship earlier this week with a Sunday win over the UCLA Bruins.