April 20, 2003

Berkeley, CA - The Naval Academy came out firing on all cylinders against the defending National Champions and pinned Cal deep in its own half for much of the first twenty minutes of the match. To Cal's credit they defended their goal line with everything they had, leaving Navy with the run of play, but no points to show for it. The Bears' Matt Sherman slotted a penalty goal at nineteen minutes to edge the Bears in front 3-0 only to have Navy immediately counter with a try of their own. The give and take continued with Cal nosing in front with a Cameron Bunce late try at the forty minute mark bringing the half time score to 24-8 Cal.

The second forty minutes was all Golden Bears with Captain Matt Sherman leading from the front with a try at the forty-six minute mark, which he converted himself. All-American Wing Eric Andersen scored a try a minute later. Cal continued to pressure the Midshipmen's goal line when Mike MacDonald capped off an outstanding performance with his second try of the match and the Golden Bears were home and dry.

A relieved Jack Clark said, "Navy was fantastic. They're well organized, committed, and tough to the core. That score line somewhat flatters us. They had us on the run for a large part of that first half. A lesser team would have folded under that pressure. I am over the top proud of our boys."

Cal will now advance to the National Championships at Stanford on May 3rd and 4th, where they will be paired with Air Force who defeated Ohio State 38-18 to advance to the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Harvard ran out 53-29 victors over Penn State, and Army defeated Cinderella Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

In the consolation match at Witter Rugby field, Texas A&M throttled UC Santa Barbara 59-11.

Scoring: 1st Half: Matt Sherman penalty goal, 19th minute; Navy try, 22nd min.; Mike MacDonald try and Sherman conv., 33rd min.; Andrew Armstrong try and Sherman conv., 35th min.; Navy penalty goal, 38th min.; Cameron Bunce try and Sherman conv., 40th min. 2nd Half: Sherman try and conv., 46th min.; Eric Andersen try and Sherman conv., 47th min.; MacDonald try, 53rd min.; Navy try, 67th min.; James Orlando penalty goal, 69th min.; Andersen try and Sherman conv., 77th min.

Cal v. Navy

Halftime 24-8 (CAL) Final 53-13 (CAL)