Aug. 16, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif. - No. 17 California received goals from five different players in its season-opening 7-0 exhibition victory over Saint Mary's Saturday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
"We felt like we had a good preseason so far," said second-year Cal head coach Neil McGuire. "The girls came in fit and worked really hard on the things we felt were important at this stage of the season. We are young and inexperienced, but our play today showed a lot of maturity. As a result, we were fortunate enough to score a lot of goals."
Sophomore defender Megan Jesolva opened the scoring in the ninth minute by successfully chipping the goalkeeper. Freshman midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir, a member of the Iceland national team, earned her first of two assists in the game.
Redshirt sophomore forward Lisa Kevorkian celebrated her return to Cal's lineup from a 2007 knee injury with a goal in the 27th minute off an assist by Omarsdottir.
Saint Mary's extended Cal's margin to 3-0 by scoring an own goal for the Bears in the 39th minute. Cal sophomore forward Alex Morgan, a star of the U.S. under-20 national team, posted her first of two goals of the day with a 15-yard shot driven inside the right post in the 45th minute. Freshman forward Mariam Azimi registered the assist.
After leading 4-0 at halftime, Cal continued its offensive mindset in the second half. Morgan earned a penalty kick for the Bears in the 77th minute and converted the opportunity for a 5-0 Cal advantage.
Cal capped the scoring with two goals in the span of one minute, nine seconds. The first was by senior midfielder Nikki Schrey off a perfect corner kick from sophomore midfielder Emily Shibata. Then Omardottir was fouled in the box, and junior midfielder Katie Oakes tallied the final goal of the day on the awarded penalty kick.
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"This team is very offensive minded," McGuire said. "We're going to have a lot of opportunities on goal over the course of the season. What we have to be careful of is not thinking about the defensive side of the ball also."
Morgan recorded six shots to lead Cal to a 28-4 shot advantage.
Junior Gina Pellegrini played the first half in goal for Cal, and redshirt freshman Jorden LaFontaine-Kussmann made two saves in the second half. LaFontaine-Kussmann missed most of the 2007 season due to lymphoma and was declared cancer free in the spring. Tara Larson had 10 saves for the Gaels.
Cal opens the 2008 regular season at San Jose State Sunday, Aug. 24, at 1 p.m. The Bears finished 2007 with a 15-5-1 overall record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Women's Soccer Result Saint Mary's 0 0 -- 0 California 4 3 -- 7
Scoring Summary Cal Megan Jesolva (Katrin Omarsdottir) 8:51 Cal Lisa Kevorkian (Katrin Omarsdottir) 26:36 Cal Own Goal 38:00 Cal Alex Morgan (Mariam Azimi) 44:36 Cal Alex Morgan (penalty kick) 76:50 Cal Nikki Schrey (Emily Shibata) 82:03 Cal Katie Oakes (penalty kick) 83:12
Shots: Cal 28 (Alex Morgan 6), SMC 4 (Mika Matsui 2). Shots on Goal: Cal 19 (Alex Morgan 4), SMC 2 (Mercede Koning 1, Danielle Spann 1) Saves: Cal 2 (Gina Pellegrini 0, Jorden LaFontaine-Kussmann 2), SMC (Tara Larson 10, Team 2). CK: Cal 7, SMC 2. Fouls: Cal 10, SMC 9. Offsides: Cal 5, SMC 3. Yellow Cards: None. Red Cards: None. Records: Cal 0-0, SMC 0-0. Attendance: 220.
