March 21, 2000

BERKELEY, Calif. - California put every last ounce it had out on the field Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't enough to overcome No. 16 Cornell as the Bears dropped a 14-3 decision to the Big Red inside Memorial Stadium. Junior midfield Sarah Wheatley scored twice for California while sophomore attacker Halsey Monger added one.

"I think we played a really good first half," said California head coach Jill Malko. "We played with confidence and aggressiveness and it paid off for us. We just weren't able to continue that in the second half and that made it rough."

Cornell (4-0 overall) jumped out to a 3-0 lead 14:39 into the first half before Wheatley responded for California (4-3 overall, 2-2 in the WWLL) with 11:10 left to play in the stanza. Monger would notch her goal with 4:46 remaining in the half to bring the Cornell lead down to 5-2. The Big Red would score twice more before the horn to secure a 7-2 halftime advantage.

But the real story for California was its success in the first half defensively, stifling a seasoned top-25 team and putting together several legitimate scoring threats through the midfield transition. Freshman defender Eleonor Ignacio and senior defender Carrie Scribner were at the heart of the Bears' defensive efforts and deserved much of the credit for coordinating a tenacious defense in front of freshman goalkeeper Eden Coelho, who finished the day with 27 saves to her credit. But leave no credit out, as California proved to work as a team to slow down a resilient Cornell attack and control the contest's tempo to a large extent in the opening 30 minutes.

"To be able to hang with a top-25 team in the first half, we know that will pay off for us in later league play," said Malko. "We have to play these tough teams for the experience. Our goal is still to win our league, no question."

California returns to action Thursday, March 23rd, against Howard University at 4 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium.

GOALS: Cal - Wheatley 2, Monger 1, Cornell - Miles 4, Wohlschlegel 3, McCorry 2, Averson 2, Zarzecki 1, Lavin 1, Holveck 1. ASSISTS: Cal - none, Cornell - Wohlschlegel 4, Reynolds 1, Holveck 1, McCorry 1, Lavin 1. SAVES: Cal - Coelho 27, Cornell - Giancola 8, Sharenko 2. SHOTS: Cal 12, Cornell 47.