Sept. 17, 2000
Box Score
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. -
The No. 12 California women's soccer team escaped its first defeat of the 2000 season with a 2-1 overtime win versus Missouri Sunday at Spry Stadium in the championship game of the Wake Forest/Nike Invitational. The Bears claimed their third invitational of 2000 by virtue of today's win and Friday's 2-1 triumph over 10th-ranked Wake Forest.
At 7-0, the Golden Bears are off to their second-best start in the program's 19-year history, with the best start being a 16-0 mark to open the 1987 campaign --- one of Cal's two Final Four appearances. The Tigers dropped to 4-4 with the loss to the Bears today. Wake Forest rebounded from its loss to Cal to defeat Virginia Tech, 2-1, today.
Missouri held a 1-0 lead over Cal after forward Nikki Thole scored on a 22-yard direct kick at 68:38. Cal outshot Missouri, 22-7, on the game but struggled for most of the contest to get anything past Tiger goalkeeper Megan Duncan, who was credited with seven saves.
The Bears were within 1 minute, 19 seconds of suffering their first loss of the season when freshman defender/midfielder Kathleen Cain, who was playing in her first collegiate game, scored the equalizer from 10-yards out off an assist from sophomore midfielder Brittany Kirk.
The game went to sudden-victory overtime with the scored tied at 1-1. At the 93:58 mark, Duncan deflected a shot taken by Cal's Kyla Sabo and Kirk headed in the rebound for the game-winning goal.
"Winning two games on the road against quality opponents is a very good result for us," said Cal coach Kevin Boyd. "We showed a lot of character this weekend. We battled our way to a 2-1 win against a top-ranked opponent (Wake Forest), and we clawed our way back from a 1-0 deficit even though we were outplaying Missouri. We kept battling and got a goal in the 89th minute, which is not easy to do, and won it in overtime, which is our first overtime victory this year."
Cal senior midfielder Natalie Stuhlmueller was named tournament MVP, and three other Bears were named to the all-tournament team - senior defender Tami Pivnick, sophomore defender Ashley Mueller and junior forward Kyla Sabo.
Cal returns home to the state of California next weekend to compete in the Bay Area Final Four in San Jose. Friday, Sept. 22, Boyd's troops open tournament play against host San Jose State, at 7:30 p.m., at Spartan Stadium. Sunday, Cal faces 1999 College Cup participant Santa Clara at 2 p.m.
Women's Soccer Result at Spry Stadium
Missouri 0 1 0 - 1
California 0 1 1 - 2
Goals: Cal: Cain (Kirk) 88:41, Kirk (Sabo) 93:58, Missouri: Thole (unassisted) 68:38.
Shots: Cal 25 (Sabo 8), Missouri 7 (Thole 4).
Saves: Cal (Zabala 5), Missouri (Duncan 7).
CK: Cal 7, Missouri 0.
Fouls: Cal 14, Missouri 19.
Offsides: Cal 2, Missouri 0.
Yellow Cards: Cal none, Missouri: Davis (58:52), Boeker (90:56).
Red Cards: None.
Records: Cal 7-0, Missouri 4-4.
Attendance: 413.
