Golden Medals: Kevin Grimes becomes Cal M. Soccer’s winningest coach as Bears downs No.1 UW

It’s that time of the season again - rivalry week across several sports. Check back on CGB this weekend for specific previews/season-up-to-now recaps before the “Big” Cal vs. Stanford contests (tonight for the preview of Cal Women’s Soccer vs. Stanford, tomorrow for the Big Splash involving Cal Men’s Water Polo, I am probably not going to make a thread for the Men’s Swimming triple distance meet nor Women’s Rowing’s fall meet against Stanford, however).

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Cal Men’s Soccer upset No.1 Washington 3-2 up in Seattle, making Kevin Grimes the winningest head coach in program history

Yesterday was a huge day in Cal Men’s Soccer history. Not only has head coach Kevin Grimes becomes the all time winningest coach in program history, his Golden Bears did it in style by beating No.1 Washington Huskies 3-2 in Seattle.

Bears come from behind with two goals in the second half for this monumental win. Alonzo Del Mundo put the Bears ahead for good in the 79th minute. Huskies outshot the Bears 24-9 but the two Cal senior goalkeepers were up for the challenge. Noah Texter played the first half while Drake Callender played the second half; Bears were able to slow down the Huskies attack in the second to make the comeback.

Simon Lekressner equalizes first for the Bears in the 39th minute from a corner that found Francisco Perez for the assist. Tommy Williamson, with an assist from Perez again, scored his team high 8th goal in the 63rd minute to again draw the match even.

Redshirt sophomore’s 2nd goal of the season was set up by Simon Lekressner (his 2nd and Christian Gomez.

This is Cal’s first win over the top ranked team in the country since 2014 (when they beat UCLA down in LA).

Win No.203, breaking the tie of 202 held with the late Bob DiGrazia, makes Kevin Grimes the top coach in Cal Men’s Soccer history. Grimes has been at Cal for 20 seasons.

Congratulations for Grimes have rolled in from various former players.

It might be a little bit too little too late, particularly after a tough 1-0 loss to San Diego State last weekend, but the Golden Bears can perhaps dream about possibly sneaking into the NCAA postseason field of 48, particularly if they can win the road Big Classical at Stanford to close out the regular season next weekend.

Bears improve to 7-5-3, 3-3-2 in Pac-12 on the season and should rise up from No.87 on the RPI.

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Cal Field Hockey’s season is still alive in the America East tournament

Facing the end of the season via elimination at the America East conference tournament, Cal Field Hockey (8-10) managed to prolong their season by at least another day after a come-from-behind 2-1 win over New Hampshire after trailing after the first quarter.

Bears did not equalize until halfway through the 4th quarter when senior Femke Dellisen drew a penaltty corner and assisted on the equalizer by Lindsay Mathison, another Cal senior. Minutes later, Cal junior scoring machine Megan Rodgers put the Bears up for good later in the quarter - with an assist to Mathison.

Check out the team celebrating the win at the final buzzer.

Head coach Shellie Onstead’s battle tested and hardened Golden Bears have survived to live for another day for their 2019 season.

The challenge will only get tougher from here, Golden Bears will next face host and No.20 Monmouth on Friday morning. Bears need to win the America East tournament to secure the automatic bid for the NCAA postseason.

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!

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Cal Volleyball (19-4, 9-4 in Pac-12) back to winning ways

After a tough 4 set loss to Oregon that marked their 3rd consecutive loss, Cal Volleyball are back on the winning side with a pair of wins against Oregon State and at Arizona (in straight sets, on the road on Thursday night).

Senior Maddie Haynes had a career best 19 kills in the straight set win over Arizona.

The losing streak buster came last Saturday when the Bears defeated Oregon State to stop the brief 3 match losing streak that dropped the Bears from 1st place in Pac-12 play.

Another Cal senior was the hero against Oregon State with Bailee Huizinga recording 18 kills.

9-4 in Pac-12 play puts the Bears in 2nd place behind Stanford, 11-2 in Pac-12 play, and in a tie with Washington and Washington State with one match lead on a 8-4 Utah.

20th ranked Cal Bears will conclude the current road trip on Sunday at ASU before coming home to host the final home stand of the season against the LA schools. Bears will likely need to be in the top 16 in the country to be in position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA postseason.

GO BEARS!