Progress reports for the Cal Fall Olympic Sports
Cal Baseball alumni now own both the single-season and all-time MLB home run records for 2nd Base
Although the realistic expectations for the various Cal programs are obviously different (for example, making only the National Semifinal would be a letdown for Men’s Water Polo but an absolute dream for Field Hockey), I will still attempt to compare the current statuses of the various fall sports on a similar grading scale in this post in lieu of recaps.
Of course, there is still enough time in the semester for all of these programs to improve their season grades significantly. I would also stress that these grades are much more reflective of the current season results as opposed to the longer view trajectory of the programs.
Cal Men’s Water Polo (14-2)
Grade: B-
The 5th ranked Cal Men’s Water Polo is both the lone ranked team out of all of the fall sports as well as the program with the best chance at a national championship. Sadly, I have to drop the Golden Bears by a full grade for their latest match, a tough 14-16 loss at No.10 Pepperdine - a result that saw the Cal Bear tumbled from No.2 to No.5 in the national rankings.
With the fall 2021 season back to normal, the NCAA tournament selection for Men’s Water Polo should again only have room for just three of the four powerhouse programs amongst Cal, USC, UCLA, and Stanford (unlike the spring 2021 season when all four made the field). With the four teams all very similar in talent level, Cal made a big move two weekends ago when they placed 2nd in the MPSF Invitational tournament thanks to some home pool advantage. Golden Bears defeated UCLA 10-9 before falling to USC 11-12.
Unfortunately, all that good work and more were undone by the loss at a good but not great Pepperdine last weekend. Cal fought valiantly to come back in this match by erasing a five-goal deficit by the fourth quarter but the Waves prevailed. This Pepperdine loss should not hurt the Cal Bears as much as the loss to Harvard (yes, that happened) a few years ago, but it is a “bad loss” on Cal’s resume. While there will be opportunities between the regularly scheduled conference matches and the MPSF tournament (where the automatic bid is up for grab) for Cal to beat USC, UCLA, and Stanford each up to twice more, Cal is currently the lone team of the group to have a loss to a team outside of this quartet.
On the season, junior center Nikolaos Papanikolaou is making a run at the Peter Cutino trophy with another fantastic season in leading the Bears in goals (44 and counting) as well as exclusions drawn. The Bears are also getting great seasons from seniors Jack Deely (35 goals) and Miles O'Brien-Schridde (30 goals) in addition to working in a pair of impact Spanish freshmen in Roberto Valera (21 goals) and Max Casabella (20 goals); the two Spaniards have an impressive number of goals despite playing just 10 matches rather than 15/16 after missing the opening weekend due to the FINA Junior World Championships.
Cal Bears could really use a big road win at No.1 USC this weekend before hosting current No.4 UC Santa Barbara next Sunday. The annoying thing is that historically for tournament selection, even a road win over a USC this weekend cannot quite undo all of the damage from the loss at Pepperdine.
Cal Field Hockey (6-3, 2-0 in America East)
Grade: A
The pleasant surprise of this fall has been the performances for the often forgotten Cal Field Hockey team. Cal closed the delayed spring season with three wins and carried that momentum to this fall season.
All three losses so far on the year had come against top-10 ranked teams. Cal also earned two big wins two weekends ago on their East Coast trip to New Hampshire (3-2) and UMass Lowell (1-0). They are back out East again this weekend with two more conference matches at No.25 Maine today and at Vermont on Sunday. Perhaps another East Coast sweep could earn the Bears a return to the top-25 rankings.
For their two wins two weekends ago, Cal’s Dutch goalkeeper Cato Knipping earned the conference (America East) defensive player of the week award.
Anne Van Hoof, a Dutch national who is also a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, is the current Cal leader in goals with 5; Van Hoof scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over UMass Lowell. Just behind her is Canadian junior Rachel Buttinger with 4 goals; Buttinger scored a brace against New Hampshire.
If you watch the goal highlight above, you may notice that sometimes the pass into the player in front of the goal is arguably as important as the player who got credited with the goal. Dutch sophomore Kiki de Bruijne leads the Bears with three assists while Scottish graduate student Maddie Cleat and California-native senior Brynn Zorilla both have two assists. Cleat and Zorilla tied for the Cal spring season team lead with four goals and two assists each.
Since the NCAA Field Hockey field is small, Cal’s likely only way in would be to win the America East Tournament for the first time in the program history. It has been just over a decade, which included the switch from NorPac to America East, since we can realistically dream about Cal Field Hockey winning the conference.
Cal Women’s Soccer (5-3-3, 1-2-1 in Pac-12)
Grade: C+
Pac-12 results:
Cal 2, Colorado 2
The Bears had to rally to earn a draw in their Pac-12 opener.
Cal 2, Oregon State 1
If you look beyond the results, you would see that Cal actually managed to outshoot their opponents in both of the Oregon and Washington losses. Unfortunately, soccer is sometimes a cruel sport where the best team and the best effort are not rewarded.
Golden Bears are still in a good position to make the field of 64 that is the NCAA tournament. With the amount of talent, including many contributing freshmen, Cal could easily go on a winning streak and beat anyone, but these early results likely took the Bears out of the running for the conference crown again. What is even more concerning is that these losses are not against the top teams of the Pac in No.3 UCLA, No.11 USC, and No.14 Stanford. Then again, I would not be shocked if this talented Cal squad does beat (or draw…it is soccer after all) any of these teams.
By the way, those three matches are at the tail-end of the Cal regular season, the Bears really need to take care of business in their next four games to build up a good enough resume to make the postseason rather than making those matches be “must-wins”.
Cal Men’s Soccer (2-7-1, 0-4-0 in Pac-12)
Grade: D+
Pac-12 Results
Cal 0, San Diego State 2
Cal 1, UCLA 2
Cal 0, Stanford 5
Cal 0, No.15 Oregon State 1
Golden Bears are in the midst of a 6-match losing streak (they also lost to Pacific and to Loyola Marymount in a match played at the home of the San Jose Earthquakes). Worse news, the schedule will not get any easier with No.2 Washington on Sunday, a non-conference match vs. just-outside-top-25 Santa Clara, before rematches against the conference foes.
Outside of that Stanford match, Cal has been in the match for all of the rest of their 6 losses this year. Even when they trail, sometimes significantly in chances, Cal does play tough defense and keep most matches close until the final whistle. Sadly, the team is starting to lose out on games to turn things around.
I do think Cal is better than what their record would indicate, but it does appear that the team will make a return to the NCAA tournament field of 48 this year.
Cal Volleyball (7-8, 0-4 in Pac-12)
Grade: D+
Pac-12 Results
Cal 1, No.14 Stanford 3 (26-24, 20-25, 22-25, 14-25)
Cal 1, USC 3 (21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 9-25)
Cal 1, Arizona 3 (20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 23-25)
Cal 1, Arizona State 3 (25-14, 19-25, 20-25, 21-25)
While Cal is a much better team than the depleted Spring season squad that only beat an unprepared Stanford (that’s nonetheless a great win), they have struggled to win matches in Pac-12 play so far. Golden Bears will look great in taking a set, before their level drops in the next one or being unable to recover from a tough stretch. It has been frustrating to watch at times.
On the road at the Oregon schools this weekend, Cal does have the players who could turn things around and go on a much-needed winning streak. With more matches left than Men’s Soccer (not to mention more non-conference wins), Cal Volleyball does have a better chance to make a run at the postseason. Then again, I’m also in the minority in thinking that Cal Football can/will make a similar turnaround in the fall of 2021.
Cal Cross Country
Grade: B
It is hard to gauge the status of a sport like Cross Country since the top runners do wait until the championships to post their best times of the season (AKA “taper”).
Nonetheless, it was a very promising meet at the Sac State Invite recently for the Cal runners with 8 of them posting personal records.
As teams, the Cal men took 1st with 4 top-10 finishers and the Cal women took 3rd with 2 top-10 finishers.
Other Cal News
5th-year returnees for Cal Swimming
Outside of Men’s Water Polo (and of course Rugby), the other perennial Cal national championship contenders are of course Swimming (and Diving). The Swimming seasons officially started last weekend, which also meant the release of the team rosters.
With the extra year of eligibility due to COVID, we have finally learned which Cal swimming stars will officially return for another run at an NCAA team national championship. For the Cal women, Dutch 2016 Rio Calympian Robin Neumann will be back for the Cal Bears; Neumann is the reigning Pac-12 champ in 200 Free.
On the men’s side, the great news is that the bulk of this past graduating senior class who helped Cal win the 2019 NCAA team title has opted to return. Out of that group, gone are 2021 Tokyo Calympian Bryce Mefford and team MVP Ryan Hoffer; Hoffer is currently a top rookie in the International Swimming League, where the short course races are better suited for him than the Olympic long courses. That means Trenton Julian (Free/Fly), David Carr (Back), and Sean Grieshop (IM/distance) are all back after each fell just short of making the 2021 USA Tokyo Olympic team; even not considering their relay impact, this is easily 120+ points back in the NCAA for the Golden Bears.
MLB Bears
On the baseball diamond, Cal alum Andrew Vaughn with the Chicago White Sox will be the lone representative in the MLB Playoffs. Due to a late back injury, Vaughn has not been hitting well since returning from the IL and did not crack manager Tony La Russa’s starting lineup in Game 1 on Thursday. Fellow 2019 MLB First Round draftee Korey Lee will be playing in the Arizona Fall League for top prospects. Lee had shot up the Houston Astros’ system in his first full professional season to end at their AAA team. The Astros and the White Sox are in a best-of-five ALDS series this weekend.
Just missing out on the MLB Playoffs (one game short of forcing a Wild Card tie-breaker game) was the Toronto Blue Jays with Cal alum Marcus Semien. Switching to 2nd Base after signing a one-year deal with the Jays, Semien returned to playing at the MVP level. He also set a new MLB single-season record for home runs by a 2nd Basemen (typically defined as a player who spent 75% plus of their time in that position) with 44 dingers.
Marcus Semien should be a coveted free agent this winter and very deserving of a big long-term deal somewhere. He also may be switching back to shortstop rather than continuing at 2nd base depending on where he ends up.
The all-time record for home runs by a 2nd baseman is 355, set by another Cal Baseball alum in Jeff Kent. Kent passed Ryan Sandberg for that record after Ryan Sandberg broke Joe Morgan’s record. Both Sandberg and Morgan are in the Baseball Hall of Fame while Jeff Kent is gaining tepid support on the ballot currently (for the record, I think Jeff Kent belongs in the Hall of Very Good but not quite the Hall of Fame). Anyhow, all three of the bats used by the trio to set the new home run records are displayed in Cooperstown.
So Cal is apparently now also Slugging-2B-U!
PGA Bears
Congrats to Cal alum Collin Morikawa for winning the Ryder Cup with Team USA. Morikawa even made the putt that clinched the victory for the Americans. That putt was set up by this great shot below.
But what was perhaps an even greater feat than going 3-0-1 in his debut Ryder Cup is that Collin Morikawa and fellow PGA multiple-time champion Max Homa have each endowed a scholarship for Cal Men’s Golf!
You’ve got to love seeing these Cal Bear Greats give back!
GO BEARS!
Fantastic write up, thank you. I love the color commentator for the women's soccer team.