Second half surge lifts Bears.

March 30, 1998

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- In a now familiar pattern, the Cal rugby team struggled through the first half of their match against Simon Fraser University Saturday before pulling ahead to win 30-5.

The mainly second-string Cal team got on the board early from a penalty kick by wing Andy Tamayo and center Brian Libicki added a try. But there were no more points for the Bears until the second half when the hotly contested ejection of a Cal lock left the team playing a man short.

The rest of the team immediately picked up its game and scored three tries in six minutes.

SFU scored their only try of the game just before the match was called early because of sudden snow and hail on what had been an otherwise clear and sunny afternoon.

The Bears have struggled early in several games this season, notably against Stanford and Arizona.

Fullback Nic Sliffe, who opened the Bears' flurry of second half scoring against SFU, attributed Cal's success to an ability to outflank the Canadians: "We did a good job of recognizing overlaps and swinging the ball wide."

However, the second side's lack of continuity showed early in the game, a concern for all the players knowing that the drive to a national championship requires two strong sides for the intense back-to-back play-off weekends. "It was a win," said scrumhalf Charlie Masters who had a strong game after a long injury lay-off, "but our 30 man 'team' needs to improve if we are to win another national title."

The Bears are on the road again next week, traveling to Humboldt for the last match of the regular season.

   
                1st Half        2nd Half        Final
Cal                 8           22              30
Simon Fraser        0           5               5

Scoring First Half: Andy Tamayo, penalty kick (3), 4th minute; Brian Libicki, try (5), 22nd min.

Second Half: Simon Terry-Lloyd, try (5), 5th min.; Nic Sliffe, try (5), 17th min.; Tel Cary-Sadler, try (5), 21st min.; Sam Enochian, try (5), Tamayo, conversion (2), 23rd min.; SFU, try (5), 25th min.

Cal Record: 10-0-1