Cal Field Hockey wins America East championship in 3-2 OT thriller over Albany

Golden Bears earn the NCAA automatic bid in their final season in the America East

Maybe it is knowing how the future of the program and Cal Athletics is in flux and that they can use a big season to galvanize the alumni/fanbase. Maybe it is like what the ESPN+ broadcast said and that some of the top players just want to come to Cal for a graduate degree and initiated the contacts with Cal head coach Shellie Onstead.

What we know for sure is that Cal Field Hockey is the 2023 America East Champion after winning the league tournament in thrilling fashion on Sunday afternoon in Lowell, Massachusetts over the University of Albany.

https://twitter.com/AmericaEast/status/1721238101203321150

Adding six graduate transfers who became immediate starters, Cal Field Hockey (12-7) became a brand new squad for the 2023 season. It is perhaps not too surprising that the Golden Bears played better and better as the players got more playing time to gel as a team. Bears flashed some early promise with a thrilling 3-2 OT win over No.5 Penn State on September 1st from Underhill Field in Berkeley. They had some close losses before going on the current 8-match winning streak dating back to early October that included three wins in the America East Tournament this weekend from Lowell, Massachusetts.

The 3-2 (OT) victory over Albany was capped by freshman Holly Pears (from England) who recorded the "Golden Goal" in sudden death OT. You can watch that moment in the Tweet below.

https://twitter.com/AmericaEast/status/1721238037605081324

Getting the Bears to that moment was a graduate student Bente Baekers, who came to Cal from the Netherlands via Northwestern where she is the current NCAA leader in career goals this year. Baekers tallied the equalizer with 5+ minutes left in regulation. On Cal, Baekers is joined by a fellow Dutch player in senior Kiki de Bruijne, who was the only player that I recognized when I first saw the roster this fall and that's partly due to how she was once listed as a physics major early in her Cal career in the media guide. She has apparently switched to psychology as a major.

Another key player in this championship match was. another Dutch player, Cato Geusgens, a graduate student defender who came to Berkeley from the Netherlands via Virginia. Also on the Cal roster is yet another Dutch graduate student, Merel Hanssen, who transferred from Michigan State.

Golden Bears got on the board first in this match when they scored off a penalty corner in the first quarter. The goal was credited as the first in the Cal uniform for Maria Cambra Soler, who came to Cal from Spain via Kent State. The graduate student defender deflected a shot from Daniella Rhodes, a graduate student who came to Cal from South Africa via Liberty. Rhodes, credited with an assist on that play, had scored all the goals for Cal in the America East tournament up to that point, including the double OT game-winner over host and top-seed UMass-Lowell on Friday. Rhodes suffered an upper thigh injury just before the half and missed the rest of the match.

Check out her semifinal game-winner below.

https://twitter.com/CalFieldHockey/status/1720512464885051441

Despite being on the bench for the deciding moments of the championship, Daniella Rhodes was still named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

https://twitter.com/AmericaEast/status/1721243568612749679

Cal only had a slim 1-0 lead after the first quarter where they dominated scoring chances with four penalty corners and a late breakaway opportunity. Albany responded by completely dominating possession in the second quarter, forcing many brilliant saves from Cal sophomore keeper Tina Jolly, who came to Berkeley from Argentina. Unfortunately for the Bears, Albany equalized just before the half on a penalty corner play.

The third quarter saw the Bears standing tough against a relentless Albany attack. The Great Danes eventually broke through early in the fourth quarter to take a 2-1 lead and set up the eventual heroics for Cal's Baeker and Pears.

Cal Field Hockey will find out their NCAA tournament placement this evening after earning the America East automatic bid. This will be the 12th time in the NCAA tournament for the Golden Bears, last playing in the play-in round in 2011 after winning the NorPac title. Since moving to the America East in 2015, this is the first and last America East championship final berth and title for the Golden Bears who will move to a very tough ACC next year.

Congratulations to the road warriors that are Cal Field Hockey! The very international bunch have traveled far to get to Berkeley, many with stops elsewhere. They will be back on the road for more postseason glory in the NCAA tournament.

The task of keeping field hockey on the West Coast has faced many obstacles in recent years with Pacific eliminating their program and Stanford barely reversing the course on eliminating their own program recently. Cal Field Hockey was not on the chopping block back in 2010, but that may just be due to Field Hockey being confused with Lacrosse (who were on the chopping block before being saved). It took a Title IX lawsuit for Cal Field Hockey to have a home field in Berkeley after having to train and play at Stanford for a couple of years when Maxwell Field was changed to a football practice field without any consideration to the field hockey team. I don't know what the long-term future will be for Cal Field Hockey, but I am sure glad that they got this banner season in 2023.

GO BEARS! ROLL ON YOU BEARS!