April 11, 2004

BERKELEY, Calif. - Despite playing on Senior Day, California was unable to put together a win, dropping their Easter Sunday contest with No. 13 Northwestern 16-4 inside Memorial Stadium in non-conference play. The loss drops the Bears' season record to 6-7 overall while remaining 1-1 in the MPSF.

Senior attacker Colleen O'Mara tallied two assists in the game, building on her single season record (32) and career record (74).

"It's not that we weren't aggressive, I just think Northwestern is a very under-rated team," said California head coach Jill Malko. "They work so well together. (Junior midfielder) Erin Hafkenschiel did an awesome job shutting down their best player."

Four different Bears scored in the match, freshman midfielder Laura Cavallo, sophomore attacker Leanne Zilioli, freshman midfielder Elizabeth Reifsnyder and junior midfielder Molly Brady.

Northwestern (9-1, 2-0 ALC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back, holding the Bears scoreless until the 16th minute when O'Mara found Cavallo to get Cal on the board. The Wildcats took a 7-2 lead into halftime and wasted no time again in the second half, putting up another five points before allowing a California goal 14 minutes into the period, 12-3.

"I don't think we possessed the ball enough in the second half," said Malko. "We played with a lot of hesitation all over the field."

In the loss, Malko still found positives to credit her team with as the Bears look to finish the season strong heading into their final three regular season games.

"I think (freshman goalkeeper) Hilary Lynch had a nice, solid game. Wu also did a great job staying intense and keeping up the energy in our attack."

California will travel to the East Coast next week to take on No. 14 Yale Saturday, April 17, in New Haven, Connecticut. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EST.

"We'll prepare for Yale by working on possession and keeping our poise," said Malko. "They are a traditionally strong team. We have to play up. We've had a much more intense schedule this year."

California Women's Lacrosse Result:
GOALS: Cal - Cavallo 1, Zilioli 1, Reifsnyder 1, Brady 1; Northwestern - Glassanos 4, Josephs 3, Albrecht 2, Corcoran 2, McMahon 1, Munday 1, Chlopak 1, Finocchiaro 1, Elliott 1. ASSISTS: Cal - O'Mara 2; Northwestern - McMahon 2, Josephs 1, Glassanos 1, McCandlish 1. SAVES: Cal - Lynch 9; Northwestern - Gersuk 12 (55:00), Philipp 1 (5:00). SHOTS: Cal 19, Northwestern n/a.