Oct. 13, 1997
Cal Bears Visits Stanford
THIS WEEK:
Friday 0ct. 17 at Stanford, Palo Alto, CA 4:00 p.m.
ON TAP:
The Cal women's soccer team, after dropping two straight games, will try to get back on track Friday when they visit Stanford University in a Pacific-10 Conference match scheduled to kickoff at 4:00 p.m.
THE SERIES:
Friday's match versus Stanford will be the 16th meeting between the Bears and Cardinal with Stanford holding a 7-6-2 series advantage in a rivalry that dates back to 1982. After defeating the Cardinal in the first five games of the series, Stanford and Cal played to two consecutive draws in 1988 and '89. Since then, the series has been all Cardinal as Stanford strung together seven wins in a row (1990-95). That streak was stopped last year when Cal finally broke through against Stanford, taking a 1-0 victory in Berkeley. Alisha Lopez netted the games only goal and the Bears captured their recording-setting 11th shutout of the year in the victory.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT:
Stanford, last year's Pac-10 Champion, enters Friday's match against Cal with a 4-7-0 overall record (0-2, Pac-10). After starting the season with a 3-1 mark that included victories over Texas and 11th-ranked Clemson, the Cardinal have dropped six of their last seven matches. Stanford is led by senior Emily Burt who has recorded 14 points (five goals/four assists) on the season. Also proving dangerous has been junior Tracye Lawyer who has notched nine points (three goals/three assists) thus far. Much like Cal, the Cardinal field a relatively inexperienced squad that is suffering through some growing pains in the wake of losing nine players to graduation.
REWIND:
Last week, The California women's soccer team fell to 5-6-1 (0-2, Pac-10) after dropping its Pacific-10 Conference openers to the 18th-ranked UCLA Bruins, 1-0, and the 20th-ranked USC Trojans, 2-1. Both matches were played at Witter Field. It was the second time this season that the Bears have dropped consecutive one-goal decisions to ranked opponents. In Friday's match versus UCLA, the Bruins scored the games only goal on a head-in by senior forward Traci Arkenberg of a Tiffany Brown free kick 28 minutes into the match. Cal's Amy Bavalac (San Jose) nearly got the equalizer with only 12 minutes remaining when she rocketed a shot toward the left corner of the goal from 17 yards out. But Bruin goalkeeper Lindsay Culp made a spectacular diving save and just brushed the ball wide of the net to preserve the UCLA victory. Sunday against USC, the Trojans were first on the board scoring nine minutes into the match when Carol Hatcher headed in a Kim Clark free kick for the early 1-0 lead. Only four minutes later tragedy struck Cal again as junior Ryan McManus (Escondido) was given a red card for taking down Courtney Barham on a breakaway just inside the penalty box. But Cal goalkeeper, Maite Zabala (Boise, ID) came up huge on the penalty shot, stuffing Barham's attempt which was headed for the right corner of the goal. Due to the ejection of McManus, Cal was forced to play a player down for the game's final 75 minutes. Maresa Zanetti (Laguna Niguel) tied the game at 1-1 in the 64th-minute when she headed in a Courtney Carroll (Fremont) corner kick and it looked as if the Bears might just pull off an upset of the nation's 20th-ranked team. However the upset was not to be as the shorthanded Bears, who were constantly pushing the attack forward in the second stanza, allowed USC to get the game-winner with just eight minutes remaining in the match. Zabala was again one of the stars for Cal as she faced 21 shots making nine saves, including the one on the penalty kick.
SLOW STARTS BEGINNING TO HURT:
In four of its last five matches, Cal has seen its opponent draw first blood. For the season, the Bears have been able to find the net first only 50 percent of the time (6-of-12 matches). In games in which Cal scores first, the Bears are 4-2.
YOUTH APPARENT IN ONE GOAL DEFEATS:
Cal is fielding its youngest team since the 1991 season (There are only six upperclassmen on Cal's 25 player roster -- two seniors and four juniors). And that youth is beginning to show up in the Bears overall record. At 5-6-1 Cal's record may not seem impressive, but all six of the losses have come by only a single goal and four of the six were against ranked opponents.
BEAR NOTES:
The Cal offense continues to be balanced this season with nine Bears having tallied at least one goal each ... Cal was outshot for only the fourth time in 12 games this season in Sunday's loss to USC (21-13). For the season, Cal has still outshot opponents by a 168-150 margin ... the Bears have also taken more corner kicks than their opponents, 57 compared to 45.
HEAD COACH KEVIN BOYD:
The 1997 season is head coach Kevin Boyd's first at the controls of the Cal women's soccer program. Named Cal's seventh head coach on May 20, Boyd spent last season as the Bears assistant coach. He helped guide the Bears to their best record of the '90s in terms of wins --13-3-2 overall (5-2 Pac-10, second place). He is aided by two former Golden Bears: assistant coach Katharin Roth (Cal '86) and goalkeeper coach Duncan Lyons (Cal '89), who played for the men's soccer program during the 1988 and '89 seasons.
