The No. 21 women's soccer teams heads to the Southland this weekend for arguably one of the biggest weekends in the program's history.
The Bears have won one conference championship since the Pac-12 started sponsoring women's soccer in 1995, and that came when they shared the title with UCLA and USC in 1998. It may be an uphill climb, but Cal is in position to win its first-ever outright conference crown if it can continue its hot play this weekend at UCLA and USC.
Cal enters the week in third place in the Pac-12 standings at 7-1-0 (14-3 overall). No. 1 Stanford leads the conference at 8-0-0 (14-1-1 overall) while No. 2 UCLA is in second place at 7-0-1 (14-0-2 overall). If the Bears can win twice this weekend, which would include a win over the Bruins, it would set up a mammoth regular season finale next Sunday at home against the Cardinal.
If the Bears were to beat the Cardinal as well, they would at the very least share the conference championship with Stanford, and could take it outright if the Cardinal beats UCLA on Sunday.
But first things first. Beating UCLA on Friday afternoon is a tall order. The Bruins have yet to lose all season, only settling for ties against Loyola Marymount and Washington State. UCLA leads the nation in defense, allowing just 0.365 goals per game.
But the Bears are on quite a roll of their own. Cal has won eight in a row and 12 of 13. The Bears also rank 12th nationally in scoring, averaging 2.47 goals per game.
The Bears have won one conference championship since the Pac-12 started sponsoring women's soccer in 1995, and that came when they shared the title with UCLA and USC in 1998. It may be an uphill climb, but Cal is in position to win its first-ever outright conference crown if it can continue its hot play this weekend at UCLA and USC.
Cal enters the week in third place in the Pac-12 standings at 7-1-0 (14-3 overall). No. 1 Stanford leads the conference at 8-0-0 (14-1-1 overall) while No. 2 UCLA is in second place at 7-0-1 (14-0-2 overall). If the Bears can win twice this weekend, which would include a win over the Bruins, it would set up a mammoth regular season finale next Sunday at home against the Cardinal.
If the Bears were to beat the Cardinal as well, they would at the very least share the conference championship with Stanford, and could take it outright if the Cardinal beats UCLA on Sunday.
But first things first. Beating UCLA on Friday afternoon is a tall order. The Bruins have yet to lose all season, only settling for ties against Loyola Marymount and Washington State. UCLA leads the nation in defense, allowing just 0.365 goals per game.
But the Bears are on quite a roll of their own. Cal has won eight in a row and 12 of 13. The Bears also rank 12th nationally in scoring, averaging 2.47 goals per game.
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