March 20, 2002

BERKELEY, Calif. - Sophomore attacker Colleen O'Mara scored the winning goal with 41 seconds left to play, as the Cal Bears (6-1, 4-1 in MPLL) defeated the Columbia Lions (3-3, 0-1 in Ivy), 11-10, in a victory that went down to the wire.

Cal got on the scoreboard first, just 30 seconds into the game, when Emily Edwards netted her 16th goal of the season and first of two on the day, to put the Bears up 1-0. Up 4-1 at the 13:16 mark, Cal seemed to have things going their way. But the Lions went on to score three straight in the next five minutes to knot the score at four apiece with 8:32 left to play in the half. Julianne Wu's 10th goal of the season and a goal by the Lions' Ellen Lowrey notched the score at 5-5 going into the intermission.

The second half started much like the first, but this time with Columbia attacker Moira O'Toole scoring the goal just 47 seconds into the half, giving the Lions their first lead of the game, 6-5. But Cal would quickly counter with two straight goals from senior Laura Kado and O'Mara to put the Bears back in the lead, 7-6. With three minutes remaining in the match, Cal had a commanding 10-7 lead on a score from captain Halsey Monger and a pair of goals by freshman Molly Brady. But there was no quit in the Lions as sophomore attacker Adie Moll netted two straight goals in the next 46 seconds to cut the Cal lead to 10-9 at the 2:15 mark. Edwards connected with O'Mara with 41 seconds to play, adding what they thought would be an insurance goal, 11-9. But the Lions continued to scrap as O'Toole stole the ball from goalkeeper Eden Coelho and put it into the back of the net with just 15 seconds left to play, narrowing the Cal lead to one, 11-10. Once again, the Lions won the draw control at midfield but the desperation drive would fail as time ran out on the game clock, giving the Bears their fourth straight win and sixth of the season.

"We needed this win to prove to ourselves that we can beat an East Coast team," said head coach Jill Malko. "We dominated in the offensive end but again we didn't convert on many great opportunities. We're not putting teams away that we have the potential to do. Maybe it's our youth factor, but as the season goes on hopefully we will start to finish games the way that I know we can."

Cal returns to action Sunday, March 24 at 1:00 p.m. as they travel to Richmond for the first of eight straight road games, five on the East Coast.

BOX SCORE:

	            1      2       F
Columbia            5      5       10
California          5      6       11

GOALS: Cal - O'Mara (3), Brady (2), Edwards (2), Wu (1), Kado (1), Monger (1), Wheatley (1). Columbia -Moll (3), Lowrey (3), O'Toole (2), Gilroy (1), Galbraith (1). ASSISTS: Cal - Edwards (2), Queisser (1), Karl (1). Columbia - O'Toole (4), Gilroy (1), Via (1).

GOALKEEPING: Cal - Eden Coelho (60 minutes, 9 saves, 10 goals). Columbia - Jessica Valadez (60 minutes, 14 saves, 11 goals).

SHOTS: COL 25, UC 28, GROUNDBALLS: COL 8, UC 20, FOULS: COL , UC 14, TURNOVERS: COL 12, UC 12, CAUSED TURNOVERS: COL 8, UC 13, DRAW CONTROLS: COL 12, UC 10.