March 11, 2000

BERKELEY, Calif. - California cruised into a comfortable 8-0 halftime lead against visiting UC Santa Cruz en route to a 14-0 victory Saturday afternoon over the Banana Slugs inside Memorial Stadium. Freshman attacker Kelly Moss came off the bench to lead all scorers with a hat-trick three-goal performance, her first collegiate goals for the Bears. Freshman midfielder Caroline Anderson, senior midfielder Kirsten Jensen and junior midfielder Sarah Wheatley all added two goals a piece during the contest.

"We've been struggling with our scoring production lately," said California head coach Jill Malko. "We spent this week working on our attacks, our execution, and causing double-teams. I thought we did an excellent job with these today."

Jensen put the Bears on the board early, scoring her second goal of the season just two minutes into the game. Wheatley followed 40 seconds later with a goal of her own, pushing the California lead to 2-0 with 27:20 yet to play in the half. Three more goals by sophomore midfielder Laura Kado, Wheatley (assisted by sophomore attacker Halsey Monger) and Jensen would run up a 5-0 California advantage just 12:29 into the game.

Moss took over the field to cap off the first half, recording her first collegiate goal with only two seconds remaining on the clock, putting the Bears up 8-0 heading into recess.

"We've talked a lot about our progress and getting the younger players time," said Malko. "I think they're getting more and more confident and as that confidence grows, they are going to be able to execute."

Slow to start in the second half, the Bears were back on the board 15:52 into the second stanza with senior defender Carrie Scribner's second goal in as many games. Anderson tallied her second goal of the day 1:38 later to push the Bears' lead up to 10-0 with 12:30 remaining in the game.

Shortly thereafter, Moss broke-out again, turning a streaking pass from freshman attacker Britni Must into her second goal of the afternoon with 10:52 left on the clock. Must followed the example a mere 32 seconds later with her fifth goal of the season. But Must was not yet done, taking an Anderson feed into the back of the net for another goal, pushing the Cal lead to 13-0 with 5:00 minutes to play. And as if they were playing off each other, Moss responded, scoring her third goal of the day off an assist from Monger with 2:39 left on the clock, recording the final goal of the day and securing the 14-0 California victory.

"I think it's a sign of an excellent team if they can play well against all opponents," said Malko. "Midway through the second half, we got back to that level and they responded. We spent a lot of time this week on our set offense, and I thought we executed it well for the most part. Our set plays worked for us today."

California returns to action Wednesday, March 15th, against Longwood College inside Memorial Stadium at 4 p.m.

GOALS: Cal - Moss 3, Anderson 2, Jensen 2, Must 2, Wheatley 2, Kado 1, Liu 1, Scribner 1, Santa Cruz - none. ASSISTS: Cal - Monger 2, Must 2, Anderson 1, Moss 1, Santa Cruz - none. SAVES: Cal - Coelho 1, Santa Cruz - Phillips 7. SHOTS: Cal 32, Santa Cruz 1.