Feb. 5, 2009

VALLEJO, Calif. - A lineup laden with underclassmen was down at halftime before putting together four second-half tries to beat Cal Maritime, 24-3, Thursday evening.

"We had to dig out a bit of a hole and it could have been much worse," said head coach Jack Clark. "Cal Maritime really owned the vast majority of possession and territory in the first half. It was good to grind out the victory, but the final score flatters us. Cal Maritime is a good rugby team and they bettered us in many aspects of play."

The match was scoreless until a Keelhauler penalty kick put Cal Maritime up, 3-0, in the 37th minute.

Robert Kelley finished the Bears' first try two minutes into the second half and Mark Richter ended 2-for-4 on conversions as Cal got itself organized to turn take control of the match as phases and sequences developed into scores.

The Bears (13-0) next travel to Sacramento on Fri., Feb. 6, for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff against Calgary University as the featured match at the Kickoff Tournament at Granite Regional Park, a major assembly including many of the best high-school teams in the nation. Venue directions are available at KickoffTournament.com.

Following a Sun., Feb. 8, 1 p.m. match at Stanford for the Scrum Axe, Cal travels to the San Diego Invitational to face Wyoming, Virginia Military Institute and Navy on Fri., Feb. 13, at the Del Mar Polo Grounds. In VMI, the triple-header offers an opportunity for the youngest members of the Bears, with Wyoming and Navy both frequent national postseason participants.

The Bears return home for a midweek tilt against Sacramento State on Wed., Feb. 18, before they welcome the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Sat., Feb. 21, to mark the opening round of the 2009 "World Cup" as their Homecoming celebration - a match that will be rebroadcast as the National Guard Game of the Week on ESPNU, with commemorative advance tickets available by calling (800) GO BEARS or visiting the Athletics Ticket Office at 2223 Fulton Street, 1st Floor.

For the UBC game on Feb. 21, the ticket office is open Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.-4:30p.m. As always, tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and military, and free for all Cal students and all youth 12th grade and below. Additional fees apply for phone/mail orders.

Gates will open at 11 a.m. on Feb. 21 and early arrival is encouraged for youth groups to ensure admission. High school and youth teams are encouraged to wear their colors to add to the pageantry of the afternoon.

The Scoring Timeline vs. Cal Maritime:

37:00 Cal Maritime 3

Halftime: Cal Maritime 3, California 0

42:00 Robert Kelley 5

51:00 Anthony Lombardo 5, Mark Richter 2

61:00 Derek Sagehorn 5

79:00 Drew Hyjer 5, Mark Richter 2

Final Score: California 24, Cal Maritime 3

The Team vs. Cal Maritime:

15. Maloney, 14. Mascheroni, 13. Lombardo, 12. Bustamante, 11. Anderson (Leach @ 37:00), 10. Richter, 9. Ring, 1. Sagehorn, 2. Kelley, 3. Strack (Estrella @ 53:00), 4. D. Hyjer, 5.Sullivan (Sproats @ 49:00), 6. Law ©, 7. Burrows (G. Hyjer @ 70:00), 8. D. Barrett