On a sunny, cool winter day in Strawberry Canyon, the Golden Bears ran their record to 2-0 with a 33-12 victory over Saint Mary's College. Cal will play UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday before traveling to Los Angeles for the UCLA Tournament this weekend.
The Gaels, coming into the contest 7-0 after an extensive fall campaign, opened the scoring in the third minute on Saturday with a converted try. The Bears answered back in the 12th minute with a darting run from flyhalf Pat Castles. Chris Gurecki's conversion attempt bounced off the right upright. Gurecki punished the Gaels with a penalty kick five minutes later to give the Bears a lead they would not relinquish.
Cal's scrum got into the scoring line soon after, with Chris Biller bulling over from a few meters out. The scoring opportunity came thanks to defensive pressure that kept St. Mary's pinned to their own goal line. Gurecki was good on another penalty attempt and Rikus Pretorius closed out the scoring in the first half, carrying the ball over after Scott Kidd was stopped just shy of the line.
Sophmore Colin Hawley open the scoring in the second half with a nice finishing move for a try at the 48th minute. Biller closed out the scoring with his second try on the day.
The Bears received two yellow cards nearly back to back around the 65-minute mark and played through a two-man Gaels advantage, sealing their second-half shutout.
"Coach instructed us to ignore the scoreline and put all our focus into being an improving team. In that regard, we should be pleased. We have a long way to go, but this was an improved performance over Wednesday," captain Chase Brogan said after the match.
At the request of St. Mary's, the reserve side match was played with uncontested scrums. The Cal reserve XV defeated the St Mary's second side 90-0.
The Scoring Timeline vs. St. Mary's:
03:00 St. Mary's 5, 2
12:00 Pat Castles 5
17:00 Chris Gurecki penalty 3
22:00 Chris Biller 5
26:00 St. Mary's 5
33:00 Gurecki penalty 3
40:00 Rikus Pretorius 5
Half Time: California 21, St. Mary's 12
48:00 Colin Hawley 5, Gurecki 2
59:00 Biller 5
Final Score: California 33, St. Mary's 12
The Team vs. St. Mary's:
15. Gurecki, 14. Lee, 13. Hawley (Golding 70, 12. Brogan (c), 11. Kidd, 10. Castles, 9. Wright (Triplett 21-28; Mase 34-40), 1. Wilhelmy, 2. Welch, 3. Biller, 4. Fry, 5. Snellgrove, 6. Biestman, 7. Pretorius, 8. Stanfill
