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Cal vs. Stanford is always special. It is even more special when this rivalry game/match is the conference opener (which is sort of the norm now in a lot of Olympic sports where the two schools meet twice).
Cal Men’s Soccer (3-1-1) ready to beat Stanford again
4:30 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks
Cal Golden Bears beat Stanford in dramatic fashion 1-0 to close the 2018 season. Bears will look to turn that into a winning streak today when they host the 2nd ranked Stanford (5-0).
No. 2 @StanfordMSoccer (5-0, 0-0 Pac-12) heads across the Bay on Friday to take on rival Cal (3-1-1, 0-0 Pac-12) and open the conference schedule. This year's start to the season is Stanford’s best since reeling off seven consecutive wins in 2002. https://t.co/9Sv4YGfxPg
— Stanford Daily Sports (@StanfordSports) September 19, 2019
Bears lost 1-0 to Denver in their Pac-12 Networks debut last weekend. Since the graduation of Shinya Kadono, Cal Men’s Soccer is still searching for that reliable source of scoring from a bunch of talented underclassmen. Bears have scored just 7 goals from 4 players in the first 5 matches of the season. Thomas Williamson lead the team with 3 goals.
It was a frustrating loss to Denver as the Bears dominated the chances (20 shots to 8 by Denver) and even had a penalty opportunity. Sadly, Bears could not break through.
Defensively, Cal has two great keeper in Drake Callendar and Noah Texter. Both are capable of having an outstanding match to earn a potential draw, if not a win.
In a low scoring sport like soccer, Bears is certainly capable of pulling off a major upset to set the tone for the rest of their Pac-12 play this year.
Cal Field Hockey (1-4) are battle tested for American East play
2:30 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks
While Cal Field Hockey has a losing record, their losses mostly came against ranked opponents, including No.7 Michigan, No.7 Iowa, and No.2 Duke. Stanford is not as good as those sides.
Looking for a good way to start your weekend? Head down to Stanford and watch us take on @StanfordFH Can't make it? Check it out on @Pac12Network
— Cal Field Hockey (@CalFieldHockey) September 17, 2019
https://t.co/8wAh5kbvDo#GoBears #AEFH pic.twitter.com/k62bTvhbDU
From Iowa last weekend, Bears battled two top-10 ranked teams hard. Bears even had a 2-1 lead against Iowa in the 3rd quarter before giving up 3 unanswered goals. Megan Rodgers, Cal’s scoring machine the past two years, finally scored her first goal of the year against Iowa. Natalie Dalton made a career best 14 saves.
It was a harder contest against Duke who lead 4-0 at the half before the Bears answered with a second half goal, again form Rodgers. Duke are the 2nd ranked team in the country for a reason, I guess.
Stanford (5-3) also played a tough non-conference schedule. They were able to beat Michigan in a shootout while also beat a No.10 Harvard via another shootout.
For the Bears to win, they would need to make this a low scoring affair. Bears lost a pair of 3-2 matches last year. A reverse of that result would be sweet.
GO BEARS!