Oct. 26, 2008
BERKELEY - The No. 22 California women's soccer team earned a 2-0 victory over Arizona on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. The Golden Bears improve to 10-5-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the Pac-10 while the Wildcats fall to 8-8-0 and 1-4-0 in conference play. After a scoreless first period, Cal got goals in the second half from forwards freshman Katie Benz and sophomore Alex Morgan.
"Over the course of 90 minutes, I think we performed very well. After a well fought overtime game, like we had against ASU on Friday, it's likely that you're going to take a little time to warm up," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "I thought we were very well organized, as was Arizona, in the first half. In the second half, I think we came more alive offensively, and as a result, we got opportunities."
Cal's best scoring chance in the first half came at 40:13 when Morgan took a shot that was deflected by an Arizona defender and the goalkeeper. The Bears, who had four shots in the first 45 minutes of play, did not allow any Wildcats shots in the first half.
The teams went into the locker rooms knotted, 0-0, but the Bears came out strong to spend the majority of the second half on the offensive. They got their first goal in the 58th minute from Benz. Junior midfielder Katie Oakes spilt the Arizona defenders and passed the ball to Benz, who earned her second goal of the weekend and as a Golden Bear.
"Katie has had some injuries so she's starting to get healthy again," McGuire said. "She took her shots very, very well this weekend. It's good because if we can have more scoring threats from our front line, it's going to make our front line even more efficient."
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Cal just missed a chance to score with 29:38 to play in regulation when Morgan was fouled and sophomore defender/midfielder Megan Jesolva took the free kick, which was just to the right of the goalpost. Morgan gave the Bears an insurance goal at 75:16 with a powerful shot from 20 yards that went to the upper left corner of the goal. Morgan's score was her ninth of the season.
Morgan had another chance to score with 5:28 minutes remaining. She drew the keeper out and shot, but it missed to the right. The Diamond Bar, Calif., native finished the game with a team-high four shots.
Cal redshirt freshman goalie Jorden LaFontaine-Kussman started in goal and had one save. Chelsea McIntyre had five stops for the Wildcats.
The Golden Bears take their final road trip of the regular season next weekend with games at USC on Oct. 31 and UCLA on Nov. 2. Cal's final home goal will be Nov. 8 against school rival Stanford. That game will be senior day for the squad's three seniors and will kick off at 2 p.m. instead of the originally slated 3 p.m.
