March 25, 2006

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The home-and-home series between Cal and UBC wrapped up today with a 29-15 victory by the Thunderbirds over the Bears on Wolfson Field in Vancouver. The T-Birds seized the lead as the second half dwindled, scoring three tries in the final six minutes.

The 14-point loss, Cal's first in 2006, overwhelmed a seven-point victory cushion the Bears built in February in the first leg of the annual series, thereby surrendering the World Cup back to the University of British Columbia.

Cal was ready to play at kickoff and took a 10-0 lead into injury time in the first half before Birds outside center Rob Petretta got UBC on the board just before intermission. The UBC try, off a turnover at the ruck in the face of mounting pressure from Cal inside the UBC 22, made the score 10-7 after 40 minutes.

The first half's bitter ending was made worse with the departure of All-America inside center Ryan Donnelly, who left the match with a knee injury. The Bears reshuffled their back line by moving Chris Gurecki from fullback to center and bringing in reserve David Poettcker to play fullback.

Despite the momentum's falling out their favor in the second half, the Bears seemed poised to sneak out of town with their 20th straight win dating back to their last visit to Vancouver. Cal made a valiant goal-line stand in the 62nd minute and took a 15-10 lead three minutes later when match-day captain and #8 Andrew Lindsey scored off a pass from Chris Gurecki following a Jason Lee kick ahead. But UBC responded with 19 unanswered points in the final six minutes to earn the victory and the World Cup.

The latter stages of second half took their toll on the students from Berkeley as the T-Birds out-rucked Cal at crucial breakdowns. The Thunderbirds also out-dueled the Bears on several tactical kicking exchanges in the final 15 minutes.

Cal's lineup closely resembled the group that faced the T-Birds in February. The return of flanker Rikus Pretorius, who made his first start of 2006 for an injured Joe Welch, was a notable exception. UBC took care of business on its home field to regain the Cup and the Bears dropped their first decision since a 20-17 defeat in Vancouver on March 24, 2005.

Senior Rob Weedon from West Vancouver took the field at flyhalf for the final time in his era of the Cal-UBC series, a rivalry that has included an extra dimension for the biology major with his twin brother, John, playing for the Thunderbirds. Although occasionally imprecise with his punting, Weedon opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a try and ended the day as one of the Bears' better performers on the field.

"We didn't play well enough to win the game today, but there are a lot of lessons we can take out of this," Weedon said.

Cal head coach Jack Clark credited the T-Birds for finishing the match as strongly as they did. "UBC were deserving winners," said Clark. "They closed the match out better than us. They really had their tails up the last few minutes of the match. As disappointed as we are to hand over the Cup, it really is a wonderful rivalry and a privilege to be a part of it."

Longtime UBC head coach Spencer McTavish was thrilled with the outcome. "It was pretty well all Cal in the first half and the wind was actually a huge factor today," said McTavish. "But by weathering that, we started putting it in the corner and made Cal work to come out. Some bounces went our way and all in all it was a good result for us."

In the reserve-grade match that preceded the first XV, UBC beat the Bears by the score of 39-19.

Cal returns to the pitch on Monday with a match at the University of Washington, then returns home to wind up the regular season against Chico State on April 1.

Still the top seed in the Pacific region, Cal will host Pools A and B of the Regional Championship Round from April 21-23.

The Scoring Timeline vs. UBC:

05:00 Rob Weedon 5, Zak Triplett 2

30:00 Zak Triplett 3

40:00 UBC 5, 2

Half Time: California 10, UBC 7

51:00 UBC 3

65:00 Andrew Lindsey 5

74:00 UBC 5, 2

77:00 UBC 5

80:00 UBC 5, 2

Final Score: UBC 29, California 15

The Team vs. British Columbia

15. Gurecki (Poettcker @ 40:00), 14. Lee, 13. Brogan (Gurecki @ 40:00), 12. Donnelly (Brogan @ 40:00), 11. Kidd, 10. Weedon, 9. Triplett, 1. Dorosti, 2. Biller, 3. Kroll (Barrett @ 58:00), 4. Snellgrove, 5. L Stanfill (Jesseman @ 33:00, L Stanfill @ 40:00), 6. Fry, 7. Pretorius, 8. Lindsey ©