May 4, 2002

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The No. 1 seed California Bears (18-0), vying for their 12th consecutive national championship, took one step closer today by defeating Army (13-5) in a semifinal match this afternoon, 59-5, in Virginia Beach, Va.

The Bears jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on captain Kort Schubert's try, at the 23-minute mark. Just three minutes later, the Bears extended their lead when sophomore wing Andrew Blair took the pass from Schubert and ran in for the try to give the Bears a 12-0 lead. Army would get on the board with their lone try of the game at the 38-minute mark only to be answered just a minute later on Matt Sherman's drop goal from 20m to give the Bears a 17-5 advantage at the half.

As they have done all year long, the Bears came out of the halftime break with a confident and decisive scoring attack. Freshman scrumhalf Andrew Johnson gave the Bears a commanding 22-5 lead on his 10m quick tap penalty try at the 42-minute mark of the second half. The scoring barrage continued as the Bears seemed to have the game in control, scoring four more unanswered tries in the game's final 38 minutes on scores from Ryan Donnelly, Dave Guest, John Willenborg, Matt Viboch and Brian McClenahan. In rainy conditions at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex, the Bears outmanned their opponents, as the forward unit controlled the scrums and the backs handled the slick ball with authority.

"We have one more river to cross ... we have a crack at the national championship," said head coach Jack Clark. "The team that helped us advance today played some quality rugby."

Cal will face Utah tomorrow afternoon, May 5 at 2:00 p.m. EST, for the rights to be named national champion. Utah pulled off the 38-12 upset win over Wyoming in today's other semifinal match.

DIVISION I RUGBY RESULTS:

               1st Half        2nd Half        Final
Army                  5               0            5
California           15              44           59


Scoring:
23:00   CAL   - Schubert (try) (Blair conversion)
25:00   CAL   - Blair (try) (Blair conversion)
38:00	ARM   - (try)
41:00   CAL   - Sherman (penalty kick)
Halftime: 17-5, Cal
42:00   CAL   - A. Johnson (try) (Guest conversion)
50:00   CAL   - Donnely (try) (Guest conversion)
54:00   CAL   - Guest (try) (Guest conversion)
65:00   CAL   - Willenborg (try) (Guest conversion)
70:00	CAL   - Viboch (try) (Guest conversion)
75:00   CAL   - McClenahan (try) (Guest conversion)
Final: 59-5, Cal

Substitutions: 21st minute, DiGiorgio in for Johnson; 40th minute, Guest in for Blair, Johnson in for DiGiorgio; 46th minute, DiGiorgio in for Johnson; 56th minute, Johnson in for DiGiorgio; 58th minute, Viboch in for Sherman; 60th minute, Larsen in for Schubert; 63rd minute, McClenahan in for Miller, Young in for Bonetto.

Cal Record: 18-0