April 14, 2001

MORAGA, Calif. - California came out with confidence Saturday afternoon, defeating St. Mary's College in convincing fashion, 15-6, at St. Mary's Stadium. Freshman attacker Emily Edwards led the Bears offensively with five goals while freshman midfielder Julianne Wu notched three assists in the Western Women's Lacrosse League victory.

"We've talked about the importance of peaking in April," said California head coach Jill Malko. "The wins and losses early in the year are not as important as they are now. We needed to be able to execute."

Junior attacker Halsey Monger recorded the game's first goal with 25:35 remaining in the first period. Edwards put in another soon thereafter to hand California (9-5 overall, 2-3 in the WWLL) a 2-0 lead in the game's first six minutes. The Gaels soon recovered, tallying four goals, three of them from junior attacker Megan Bryan, to trail by just one, 5-4, with 7:40 to play in the half. That's when the Bears went into overdrive, coming out of a Gaels timeout to score five unanswered goals to finish the half up 10-4.

"The offense excelled after that second timeout," said Malko. "That run showed our improvement in maintaining possession and winning the draw controls and then scoring off of them and that put us in a position where St. Mary's couldn't catch us."

Mixed into that five goal run were two nearly identical goals, both scored by Edwards and assisted on by Wu, within 31 seconds of each other. The only difference was the corner of the cage Edwards shot into. Coupled with freshman midfielder Kelley Queisser's ability to win draw controls and senior midfielder Sarah Wheatley's ability to shut down St. Mary's (6-6 overall, 1-4 in the WWLL) leading scorer, California essentially had the game won in the first half.

"Kelley did a great job on the draws," said Malko. "It was huge. It seems like such a small element of the game, but it makes a big difference in the momentum. (Sophomore goalkeeper Eden Coelho) also had a solid game today, from beginning to end."

Using confidence built-up during the first half, California continued to pressure St. Mary's in the second, allowing the Gaels only two more goals while recording five more of their own. Holding firm in the net, Coelho finished the afternoon with 10 saves after facing 25 shots.

"Everybody played well," said Malko. "It's become a hallmark of our team. Everyone plays well and steps up. It must be hard for other teams to plan for us when we're playing like this."

California returns to action Saturday, April 21, when the Bears host UC Davis in their final regular season game. The contest will begin inside Memorial Stadium at 2:00 p.m.

GOALS: Cal - Edwards 5, Preble 2, Kado 2, Monger 2, Wheatley 1, Dunnigan 1, Gardner 1, O'Mara 1, SMC - Bryan 3, Spencer 1, Back 1, Davidge 1. ASSISTS: Cal - Wu 3, LeMoult 2, Kado 1, SMC - Jones 1, Davidge 1. SAVES: Cal - Coelho 10, SMC - Otsuka 12. SHOTS: Cal 28, SMC 25.