After a brief two-year absence, California Golden Bears (10-4-6, 5-3-3 in Pac-12) are back in the NCAA Tournament. Behind a solid defense that rarely gives up more than a goal, Cal finished 4th in a very strong Pac-12.

Cal Athletics @CalAthletics

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴! 💃 Cal is heading to Bay Area rival Santa Clara in the first round of the 2022 #NCAASoccer Tournament! #GoBears

With an RPI of 35, Cal will draw Santa Clara (RPI of 29) in the NCAA First round. Cal Bears will visit the Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday at 1 PM PT.

Livestream: ESPN+

Cal Athletics @CalAthletics

𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁. 𝗣𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱. 🎟️ Bay Area battle in the #NCAASoccer Tournament Opening Round! 🗓️ » Saturday, Nov. 12 🆚 » Santa Clara ⏰ » 1 p.m. PT 📍 » Stevens Stadium #GoBears

Key Cal Bear Players

Three Golden Bears were named to the All Pac-12 Second Team: defender Sydney Collins, defender/midfielder Ayo Oke, and striker Keely Roy.

Cal Women's Soccer @CalWSoc

𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 𝘿𝘼𝙔 🏆 Follow along as the Bears find out their postseason fate! Watch the live selection show on ncaa.com at 1pm PT🤞 #GoBears

Senior captain Sydney Collins had played virtually every minute of the season. She also earned a Pac-12 Third Team honor last year.

Senior Keely Roy leads the team with 11 goals, the 27th best in the nation. She also leads the Bears in game-winners (3) and shots (62). The chosen one to take penalties, Roy is 5-for-6 on the year.

Sophomore Ayo Oke followed her Pac-12 All-Freshman season with a stronger encore. Oke leads the Bears with 9 assists, top in the Pac-12 and the 15th best in the nation.

Cal Women's Soccer @CalWSoc

All-Conference Honors clinched ✅ 🔗: calbea.rs/3A0GlHY Sydney Collins, Keely Roy and Ayo Oke have all been named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team 👏 #GoBears

Cal goalkeeper Angelina Anderson could be the difference maker, especially if penalty kicks decide the matches. Anderson, who is 2nd all-time in Cal program history with 26 clean sheets, has already come up big in several penalty situations this season (though I cannot find the precise stats on this). She is very good at using her long limbs to go all out to make saves but is sometimes victimized in regulation play by giving up rebound goals. On the season, Anderson and the Bears have only conceded 16 goals (4 from just one match at No.1 UCLA where Anderson saved a penalty).

NCAA tournament matches, particularly those deeper in the postseason in the last few years, are often decided by PKs (after scoreless draws). IF the Bears can hold steady for the full 90 minutes and the extra time, Anderson gives them as good of a chance at pulling off an upset and advancing as nearly anyone in the country.

Cal is undefeated in their last 5 matches (2-0-3)

In their regular-season finale, Cal Bears earned a draw against No.7 Stanford. While this result was good enough for Stanford to win the Pac-12 title, it also strengthened Cal’s claim of an at-large bid.

All four teams who defeated Cal this year are NCAA-bound. They are UC Irvine (season opener), UCLA, ASU, and most recently USC on October 14th. Only UCLA and USC have managed to beat Cal by two goals.

While one would have liked to see the Bears capitalize on their scoring chances more, expect more defensive struggles, especially if the Cal Bears will finally make a long postseason run, which has been rare despite plenty of chances under head coach Neil McGuire.

A Quick Glance at Santa Clara

Cal is quite familiar with their other Bay Area rival in Santa Clara, having played them every year in non-conference play. The NCAA likes to keep the first-round regional to minimize travel. With that goal and how conference foes would not face off in the first round, Cal’s 2022 first-round foes are the same ones as their last postseason trip back in 2019.

Earlier in 2022, Cal won at Santa Clara by a 1-0 result on September 11th. Anysa Gray scored in the 29th minute for the lone tally on the scoresheet. Ayo Oke set Karlie Lema up for a nice first shot and Gray was able to deposit the rebound into the back of the net. Angelina Anderson also faced five shots and two weak on-goal saves for that clean sheet.

Santa Clara has since rebounded from a 2-5-0 record after that match to a 10-6-3 record, 7-0-2 in West Coast Conference action.

Santa Clara managed to win the NCAA title in the delayed 2020 season, but Cal has since drawn them 1-1 in 2021 (with Cal Softball star Makena Smith in an emergency appearance as the keeper) and beat them 1-0 in 2022.

Izzy D’Aquila has 18 goals on the season, the 2nd most in the nation. She is the WCC Offensive Player of the Year. Midfielder Annie Karich is both the WCC Freshman of the Year and a First-Team member. Rounding out the WCC First-Team, defender Marisa Bubnis led the Santa Clara defense to surrender just 4 goals in WCC play. Santa Clara keeper Marlee Nicolos got a WCC Second-Team honor. She may not have been 100% earlier this year, coming off an ACL injury.

Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith was named WCC Coach of the Year for the 9th time. Smith is also the husband of Cal Bears turned Santa Clara Broncos and USWNT legend, Brandi Chastain.

The rest of the draw

NCAA Bracket

Should the Bears get past the Broncos, their next match will likely be at No.4 Notre Dame (14-2-3, 7-2-1 in ACC), the region's top-ranked team. Notre Dame takes on Omaha in their first-round match.

Other ranked teams of Cal’s region include 2nd-seed North Carolina, 3rd-seed Stanford, and 4th-seed Michigan State.

The other top seeds are Florida State, Alabama, and UCLA. USC, as a 4th-seed, and Arizona State round out the full list of five Pac-12 representatives in the field of 64.

GO BEARS!

Write For California

Cal Women's Soccer returns to NCAA Tournament