March 23, 2006

Box Score

BERKELEY, Calif. - California turned in a respectable performance against the best team in the country, losing to top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Northwestern, 16-5, in a non-conference game on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The Golden Bears' record fell to 4-4, while the Wildcats improved to 7-0.

"It's always frustrating to lose by a margin as big as that, but on the flip side I was proud of the team by the way they hustled," Cal head coach Jill Malko said. "They never gave up, and they played really hard till the very end. You can't ask too much more of your team than that. I'm proud of their effort and intensity."

Northwestern improved to 3-0 in the all-time series with Cal, which improved its margin of defeat to the Wildcats by one goal. The Bears had lost to Northwestern by 12 goals in each of the first two meetings (16-4 in 2004 and 18-6 in 2005) with the Wildcats.

"I said to the team, 'This is what you need to aspire to be,'" Malko added. "'This is the top level right now.' The biggest difference between Northwestern and us is depth and stick skills. I don't think it's pure athleticism. It's more of their ability to take care of the ball and handle pressure."

Freshman midfielder Madeleine Dale scored two goals and sophomore midfielder Laura Cavallo had two assists to tie for the Cal lead in scoring with two points each. Northwestern senior midfielder Lindsey Munday led all scorers with eight points (4 goals, 4 assists), and junior teammate Kristen Kjellman had six points (4, 2).

Northwestern outshot Cal, 31-22, and kept goalkeeper Hilary Lynch busy for most of the game. The Cal junior made 10 saves before giving way to freshman backup Morgan Dyson in the 56th minute.

Junior attacker Aly Josephs scored the game's first goal in the fourth minute and Dale tied the score at 1-1 with her strike in the fifth minute. The Wildcats then scored five straight goals, with the last three by Munday, to take a 6-1 lead in the 17th minute.

Cal junior attacker Liz Reifsnyder scored in the 18th minute, but Northwestern scored the next two goals, including the fourth by Munday, to make the score 8-2. Dale scored her second in the 23rd minute, but the Wildcats again answered with two goals to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.

The Bears had a stronger second half, as they were even with the Wildcats in shots, 11-11, and won the turnover battle (Northwestern 12, Cal 9) in the final 30 minutes. The Wildcats still outscored Cal, 6-2, in the second stanza.

After Kjellman scored her second goal of the game in the 38th minute, Cal sophomore midfielder Cristen Andrews scored her second goal of the season also in the 38th minute to make the score 11-4.

Northwestern scored the next five goals to put the game away and take a 16-4 lead. Freshman attacker Paige Keffer scored the first goal of her Cal career in the 56th minute to make the final score 16-5.

Cal leaves tomorrow for Harrisonburg, Va., where the Bears will take on 17th-ranked James Madison at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

GAME SUMMARY
           	1	2	F
Northwestern	10	6	16
California	3	2	5

Northwestern Scoring
Goals: Lindsey Munday 4, Kristen Kjellman 4, Laura Glassanos 3, Aly Josephs 2, Hannah Nielsen 1, Meredith Frank 1, Lindsay Finocchiaro 1. Assists: Lindsey Munday 4, Kristen Kjellman 2, Laura Glassanos 1, Aly Josephs 1, Hannah Nielsen 1.

California Scoring
Goals: Madeleine Dale 2, Liz Reifsnyder 1, Cristen Andrews 1, Paige Keffer 1. Assists: Laura Cavallo 2, Danni Zuralow 1.

Goalkeeping
Northwestern: Morgan Lathrop, 12 saves, 5 GA, 55:49; Abby Bangser, 2 saves, 0 GA, 4:11. California: Hilary Lynch, 10 saves, 16 GA, 55:49; Morgan Dyson, 1 save, 0 GA, 4:11.

Yellow Cards
Northwestern: Aly Josephs 17:50. California: Jocelyn Paul 35:44, Jocelyn Paul 44:15, Laura Cavallo 47:03.

Red Cards
Northwestern: None. California: Jocelyn Paul 44:15.