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Oct. 27, 1997

Bears Head to Oregon after Sweeping Washington Schools

THIS WEEK:   Friday 0ct. 31  Oregon, Eugene, Ore.    2:00 p.m.
                 Sunday Nov. 2   Oregon State, Corvallis, Ore.   12:00 noon

ON TAP: The Cal women's soccer team (7-7-1) winners of two straight, visits Pac-10 foes Oregon and Oregon Sate this weekend. The Bears will meet Oregon (4-12-1, 1-5 Pac-10) on Friday, Oct. 31, at 2 p.m. and Oregon State (2-12-1, 0-6 Pac-10) on Sunday at 12 noon.

THE SERIES: Friday's match versus Oregon will be the first meeting between the Bears and Ducks as this is only Oregon's second year of Division I soccer. However, when Cal plays Oregon State on Sunday, it will be the eighth time that the two schools have met. The series began with a 6-0 Golden Bear victory in 1989. Since that time, Cal has won four of the last six meetings, including a 3-0 shutout of the Beavers last year in Berkeley, and leads the series by a 5-2 margin.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Oregon is in only its second year of Division I soccer and to date has posted a 4-12-1 record (1-5, Pac-10). Last year, the Ducks had a 5-11-2 mark but did not compete in Pac-10 Conference play. Oregon broke a 10-game winless streak last weekend when it split a pair of road games versus the Arizona schools. The Ducks topped Arizona, 2-1, before falling to Arizona State, 2-0. Oregon's leading scorer is Sierra Marsh, who has registered 14 points on the season (four goals/six assists). Oregon State is in midst of an eight- game losing streak that has dropped the Beavers record to 2-12-1 (0-6, Pac-10). The Beavers last victory came back on Sept. 27 when they defeated Eastern Washington, 6-0. In its 15 matches this season, OSU has scored only 11 goals and has been shutout 11 times. Libby Christensen is the Beavers leading goal scorer with three on the year.

Jill Stephenson

REWIND: After opening Pac-10 Conference play with three consecutive losses, the Cal women's soccer team closed out its home slate with its two most impressive performances of the season as the Bears blanked both Washington, 2-0, and Washington State, 1-0, last weekend. Cal got out to a fast start against the Huskies on Friday and put a stop to Washington's four-game winning streak. Cal sophomore goalkeeper Jill Stephenson (San Diego), who made three saves and faced 12 Husky shots while notching her third shutout of the season, kept Washington off the scoreboard for the first time in 11 matches this season. The Bears got goals from senior Mary Oades (Chatsworth) and freshman Gretchen Vanderlip (Clayton Valley) for the 2-0 victory. Cal completed the weekend sweep with a 1-0 victory over Washington State on Sunday. Stephenson registered her second consecutive shutout -- fourth of the season -- and freshman Natalie Stuhlmueller (Los Gatos) scored her third goal of the year as the Bears defeated the Cougars in their home finale. Cal was clearly the dominant side in a match that saw the Bears outshoot the Cougars 27-9. The victories evened Cal's record at 7-7-1 (2-3, Pac-10) as the team now embarks on a four-game road trip to close out the 1997 campaign.

Natalie Stuhlmueller

STUHLMUELLER STEPS UP: Freshman midfielder Natalie Stuhlmueller (Los Gatos) had her best weekend as a collegian last week against the Washington schools. In Friday's match versus Washington, Stuhlmueller posted five of Cal's 14 shots (game-high), keying the Bears offensive attack from her outside-mid position. On Sunday, Stuhlmueller came back with three more, including one which found the back of the net in the game's 48th-minute and turned out to be the game-winner. It was her second game-winning goal of the season -- she leads Cal in that statistical category -- as she also scored the only goal of the match in Cal's 1-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 12. Stuhlmueller now has recorded eight points (3 goals/2 assists) and is tied for 2nd on the team in scoring.

BEAR NOTES: The Cal offense continues to be balanced this season with over half the Bears field players (11) having tallied at least one goal and none more than four ... Cal out shot both Washington, 14-12, and Washington State, and has now outshot 10-of-15 foes this year. Cal has outshot all opponents by a margin of 213 to 186 on the season ... the Bears have also taken more corner kicks than their opponents, 65 compared to 48 ... Cal has held its opponents to one or fewer goals in 9-of-15 matches and has a 6-3 record in those games. On the other hand, Cal is 1-4-1 in games in which it has allowed two or more goals. Cal has only allowed more than two goals once (Stanford) ... six of Cal's seven losses have come by only one goal ... The Bears are 4-0-1 when they score more than one goal in a match and 6-3 when they score the game's first goal.

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.