Cal Women's Soccer Scores Golden Goal to Beat Pepperdine, Faces No.5 Arkansas in NCAA Second Round
Cal Men's Water Polo needs to run the table at MPSF tournament this weekend to have a shot to four-peat
A lot of history and rivalry ended in 2024 due to the move to a new conference for Cal Athletics. Not all of those histories were successes, of course. Cal Women’s Soccer is seizing this postseason opportunity to forge some rare playoff magic for the program.
Last Saturday, from sunny Malibu, California. The California Golden Bears earned the “Golden Goal” to win in sudden death OT. Bears upset host Pepperdine, the 7th seed in the region, to earn the right to take on the 2nd seed and nationally 5th ranked Arkansas today in Fayetteville, AR.
https://x.com/theACC/status/1857914315774505227
Senior defender Courtney Boone, the hero on the putback goal late at Stanford to end Cal’s regular season on a high note, was credited with the game-winner for the second match in a row.
Cal Bears scored the double-overtime, 106th-minute winner off a set play. Graduate student Julia Leontini delivered the ball from the corner. Good things happen when one gets bodies inside the box, Boone managed to deflect the ball into the goal to set off the celebration.
Senior forward Alexis Wright scored the match’s first goal in the 33rd minute. Golden Bears had more chances to double the lead but did not. Early in the second half in the 59th minute, Pepperdine found the equalizer off a corner kick set play. The postseason fate of the two sides hung in the balance for the next 45+ minutes.
Despite being the road team and not seeded as high, Cal looked like the better team for most of the match. Newcomer Julia Leontini has been a welcome addition to the midfield. Cal senior striker Karlie Lema has drawn double or triple teams frequently to provide spaces for her teammates.
Cal keeper Teagan Wy was not tested much, but made a few point-blank saves when needed, including in OT. Cal might have been okay with the match being decided via penalties, given having Wy as an advantage. Historically, PKs often decide the College Cup playoffs, particularly in the latter stages.
Check out the exciting video from Cal Women’s Soccer social media team to capture the historic road win.
https://x.com/CalWSoc/status/1858320514114297885
Despite making the NCAA postseason field of 64 more often than not, last Saturday was Cal’s first NCAA postseason win for the first time since 2014. Cal’s last road postseason win came also at Pepperdine in 2012.
Cal is looking for their first second-round win since 2005.
It surely will not be easy against Arkansas Razorbacks (15-2-2). Arkansas leads the nation in several offensive categories like goals per game (3.63) and corner kicks per game (8.58). However, Arkansas is not invincible given they only finished 2nd in the SEC regular season and got knocked out by Texas in the SEC Tournament semifinal.
Arkansas easily dispatched Oklahoma State 4-0 in their NCAA First Round match with all four goals scored in the first half. They did not experience the pressure that Cal faced. Pressure creates diamonds (although scientifically, this is not always true depending on the temperature).
California Golden Bears (13-5-2) have the talent to keep up with anyone in the country this year. Being in the ACC meant that Cal has played a couple of the higher-rated teams than No.6 in the RPI Arkansas (although Duke and North Carolina came to Berkeley).
Cal has nothing to lose, and that is what makes them dangerous.
NCAA Second Round: Cal vs. Arkansas
When: Friday, November 22nd, 4:30 PM PT
Where: Razorback Field (Fayetteville, AR)
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
ROLL ON YOU BEARS!
Cal Men’s Water Polo in MPSF Tournament
With the graduation of 2024 Paris “Calympians” Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Greece) and Adrian Weinberg (USA), the idea of a four-peat for Cal Men’s Water Polo was always a bit of a dream.
The only three-time Peter J. Cutino Award winner in program history, “Papa” could not be replaced. Yet it was goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg, who led Team USA to a Bronze this summer, that proved to be harder to replace in 2024 for the program. Redshirt freshman Riley Clansen was given the first shot to be the keeper but redshirt sophomore Max LaGrange has taken over as the main keeper in the last month.
Despite a roster with prolific scorers like seniors Max Casabella and Roberto Valera and another senior George Avakian who was ready to take over that center spot from Papa, Cal had issues stopping goals all year long. In addition to missing some all-time greats being in the pool, Cal might just miss their leadership, particularly in defense.
Cal (11-11) did manage to beat then-No.1 Stanford 13-11 on October 19th. But they will carry a four-match losing streak to the MPSF Tournament at UCLA this weekend. Golden Bears will need to win out to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships.
Cal should stop the losing streak with an easy tune-up on Friday at 3:30 PM vs. Augustana. But they will face host and No.1 UCLA on Saturday afternoon. The winner between USC and Stanford will likely await on Sunday afternoon’s MPSF title match.
I do expect head coach Kirk Everist’s squad to play their best water polo of the season this weekend. But will that be enough?
Go BEARS!