Oct. 30, 2007

Box Score

BERKELEY - Seven different Golden Bears scored as California routed Longwood, 8-0, and clinched the top seed in the NorPac Championship on Senior Day on Tuesday afternoon at Maxwell Family Field. The Bears, the defending NorPac tournament champions, improved their record to 11-5 (5-1 NorPac), while the Lancers fell to 6-14 (2-4). Cal tied Stanford, which also has a 5-1 conference record, for the regular-season conference title, but the Bears claimed the NorPac tournament's top seed based on their 2-1 conference win over the Cardinal, the tournament's No. 2 seed, on Sept. 23. This also marks the ninth straight year in which Cal has won at least a share of the regular-season conference title.

The conference tournament is scheduled to run Nov. 1-3 in Stanford, Calif., though Cal's first-round bye means that the Bears won't play their first tournament game until Friday, Nov. 2. The NorPac tournament winner hosts a Nov. 6 NCAA play-in game.

The eight-goal victory ties Cal's biggest margin of victory this season - another 8-0 win over a NorPac team, Appalachian State, on Sept. 15. The offensive explosion comes after Cal played five-straight games that were decided by one goal each.

"I wanted them to be ruthless today," Cal head coach Shellie Onstead said. "I wanted them not to settle for one or two goals, and they did a good job of that."

Prior to the Longwood game, Cal honored its two seniors with its Senior Day ceremony. Depending on the outcome of the upcoming NorPac Championship, senior forward Jennifer Crane and senior goalkeeper Liz Braasch may have played their last home game as Bears.

"Jenny's done everything you expect a senior to do," Onstead said. "She's been playing better and better and has had no letdowns. She's been fantastic. And Liz has done a service to this program in a really important way, in terms of coming back when we needed her and stepping up here in her final year."

Braasch, who joined the Cal team in 2003, left and came back prior to this season, lowered her goals-against average from 1.45 before the game to 1.35 afterwards. Crane, meanwhile, has built on her Cal season scoring lead, now pacing the Bears with a career-high 24 points and 10 goals and tying junior midfielder Andrea Lo with a team-high three game-winning goals.

"It's sad, but all good things must come to an end," Crane said of playing in Berkeley. "I'm glad I was able to score a goal and I'm glad that a lot of my teammates scored, too. It's a good way to end it."

Cal dominated Longwood, outshooting the Lancers, 19-1, and taking a 13-1 advantage in penalty corners. The Bears also forced Longwood goalkeeper Avanell Schmitz to make nine saves.

Crane scored first, knocking the ball out of the air and past Schmitz, to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. Braasch got the start for Cal and shut out the Lancers over a 42-minute and 48-second-stint. Cal junior forward Katie Knoche was the game's high scorer, tallying the last two goals of the game and recording an assist to produce five points.

Cal took a 4-0 halftime lead, thanks in part to junior forward Ashley Glosz, who scored an unassisted goal in the 19th minute and assisted on sophomore midfielder Caitlin Byrne's goal in the 23rd minute. Knoche set up the Bears' fourth goal in the 29th minute, drawing Schmitz away from her net before passing to freshman midfielder Megan Psyllos, who shot past a diving defender for her first career goal.

Longwood's lone shot of the game came 30 seconds into the second half, as senior midfielder Cristin Newbold forced junior goalie Kelly Knoche to make Cal's only save of the match. The Lancers recorded their only corner in the 65th minute.

McGrath scored in the 39th minute off an assist by junior midfielder Carolina Bistue and freshman midfielder Kaitlin Duncan scored in the midst of a goalmouth scrum in the 44th minute to give the Bears a 6-0 lead.

Penalty corners preceded Katie Knoche's goals in the 55th and 64th minutes, as defender Rachel Moffitt's stick stops set up the elder Knoche for her third and fourth goals of the season and wrapped up the scoring.

"We played our game and beat our opponent, and we proved our statement that we own the NorPac," Braasch said. "It would be a really nice memory if this is my last home game. But hopefully we'll be back here next Tuesday."

Cal next plays in the first semifinal of the NorPac Championship at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, against the winner of the game between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds - Davidson and Longwood, respectively - which is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday at Stanford. If Cal wins the tournament final, which is slated for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, it would host the NCAA play-in game against the champion of the Northeast Conference Tournament on Nov. 6 in Berkeley.

GAME SUMMARY

Goal Summary

Cal - Jennifer Crane (Christina McGrath) 6:02
Cal - Ashley Glosz 18:39
Cal - Caitlin Byrne (Ashley Glosz) 22:45
Cal - Megan Psyllos (Katie Knoche) 28:28
Cal - Christina McGrath (Carolina Bistue) 38:24
Cal - Kaitlin Duncan 43:31
Cal - Katie Knoche (Rachel Moffitt, Kaitlin Duncan) 54:32
Cal - Katie Knoche (Rachel Moffitt, Kellie York) 63:43

Goals by Period
	         1	2	F

Longwood 0 0 0 California 4 4 8 Shots by Period 1 2 F Longwood 0 1 1 California 10 9 19 Penalty Corners by Period 1 2 F Longwood 0 1 1 California 3 10 13 Att.: 93.