March 30, 2008

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. - Madeleine Dale and Alyse Kennedy scored hat tricks to lead California to an 11-9 non-conference win over UMBC on Sunday. The Golden Bears evened their record at 5-5, while the host Retrievers fell to 2-9.

"We really worked on making changes from Friday as far as playing together as a team, and that showed today," said Cal head coach Theresa Sherry, referring to Cal's 16-10 loss at William & Mary on March 28. "From the first, we came out and battled for the 50-50 balls, especially draw controls. We were much more patient on the attack and showed much more patience on defense, too. We were able to do it for the entire game. Even when things were not going our way and UMBC was stepping up, we tried to stay pretty consistent.

The win was Cal's first in the brief all-time series with UMBC. The Bears' record is 1-2 against the Retrievers, whose Ali Levendusky led all scorers with four points (3 goals, 1 assist) today.

Cal freshman goalkeeper Allie Shropshire made a career-high 11 saves in 60 minutes of action. The game against UMBC marked her first complete game as a Bear.

"We asked every single person on the team to step up," Sherry said. "Allie was one of the ones to make a difference. She did a good job backing up her teammates, and the defense in front of her gave UMBC as few looks as possible. She came up big on a lot of chances for UMBC. That's what we need out of our goalies.

"Madeleine was another one who responded today. She was going hard to goal, really being more of a threat and taking opportunities that the opposing team was giving her. Every single person on attack was a threat today, Alyse as well. Dale got us on the board early, and that was a great way for her to step up today."

Dale, a junior attacker, scored the game's first two goals, the first set up by a Danni Zuralow assist at the 2:44 mark of the first half and the second on an unassisted strike at 3:20. Cal increased its lead to 3-0 at 9:52, after an eight-meter shot attempt by senior attacker Brittany Aungier. The shot was saved by Retrievers goalie Kate Quick, but a defensive mix-up led to a UMBC own goal.

Sarah Willis scored UMBC's first goal at 13:16 to make the score 3-1. But a pair of Aungier goals (at 13:33 and 29:47) sandwiched around a Levendusky goal at 21:23 gave Cal a 5-2 lead at halftime.

UMBC outshot Cal in the first half, 15-14, and for the game, 31-23. The Bears, meanwhile, dominated the draw controls, 7-1, in the first half and had a 15-7 advantage for the game. Zuralow, a senior attacker, and Cal sophomore midfielder Alex Tickner each collected a game-high four draw controls.

Cal scored three of the first four goals of the second half to take an 8-3 lead. Zuralow converted an eight-meter attempt at 35:25, Tickner scored at 37:45 and Kennedy, a sophomore midfielder, struck at 40:03, while Erika Braerman tallied UMBC's only goal in that period at 37:10.

The host team got within two goals of Cal three times in the second stanza, including at the 44:05 mark after the Retrievers scored three straight times. Megan Linkous, Kelly Burgoyne and Levendusky scored during that span for UMBC, which trailed at that point, 8-6.

Junior defender Sam Price assisted Kennedy on her second goal at 44:50, but UMBC's Abbey Swift scored at 45:53 to make the score 9-7. Dale scored her final goal at 51:26, but Burgoyne matched her at 56:08 and the score was 10-8.

Kennedy sent her third goal past Quick at 56:19 and then Levendusky converted an eight-meter attempt at 59:47 to make the final score 11-9.

Cal, which has a 1-0 record in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action, plays a pair of conference games this week. The Bears play at Saint Mary's at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, in Moraga, Calif., and then battle UC Davis at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, in Davis, Calif.

GAME SUMMARY

	         1	2	F
California	5	6	11
UMBC	         2	7	9

California Scoring
Goals: Alyse Kennedy 3; Madeleine Dale 3; Brittany Aungier 2; Danni Zuralow 1; Alex Tickner 1; TEAM 1 (UMBC own goal). Assists: Sam Price 1; Danni Zuralow 1.

UMBC Scoring
Goals: Levendusky, Ali 3; Burgoyne, Kelly 2; Swift, Abbey 1; Willis, Sarah 1; Linkous, Megan 1; Braerman, Erika 1. Assists: Levendusky, Ali 1.

Goalkeeping
California: Allie Shropshire, 11 saves, 9 GA, 60:00. UMBC: Kate Quick, 9 saves, 11 GA, 60:00,

Records: California 5-5. UMBC 2-9.