April 26, 2008

Box Score

BERKELEY - California lost a chance to claim the MPSF regular-season title and top seed in the upcoming conference tournament in Berkeley when it fell to No. 18/20 Denver, 12-8, on a warm Saturday afternoon in Memorial Stadium. The Golden Bears, who lost their first conference game of the season today, take the No. 2 seed and a 9-7 record (4-1 MPSF) into the April 30-May 3 MPSF Championship. Denver (11-5, 4-0 MPSF) wins the regular-season conference crown and the No. 1 seed in the MPSF tournament. As the top two seeds, both Cal and Denver earn first-round byes and will not play on April 30.

Denver plays its final conference match at Saint Mary's tomorrow, Sunday, April 27. Even if the Pioneers lose in Moraga, Calif., and wind up with the same 4-1 conference record as Cal, Denver wins the No. 1 seed and regular-season title because of its head-to-head win over the Bears.

The Pioneers' Karen Morton (6 goals) and Steph Coyne (5 assists) were the game's top two scorers with six and five points, respectively. All five of Coyne's assists came on Morton goals.

Four players - senior attackers Brittany Aungier and Danni Zuralow (1 goal, 1 assist each), junior attacker Madeleine Dale (2 goals) and sophomore midfielder Alyse Kennedy (2 goals) - led the Bears in scoring with two points each.

"Denver played really well," Cal head coach Theresa Sherry said. "They played with heart and fire and came after it from the beginning. They got us on our heels for a little bit and we once again dug ourselves a hole. It was tough to come back from. We just didn't execute the fundamental skills, and I think that's what really hurt us. We didn't capitalize on their mistakes, and they capitalized on every one of ours."

Prior to the game, Cal honored its four seniors - midfielders Cristen Andrews and Mary Downs and attackers Aungier and Zuralow - as part of Senior Day, since today marks the quartet's last home game at Memorial Stadium (not including next week's MPSF Championship tournament in Berkeley).

"They're some of our toughest kids," Sherry said of the four. "They're great leaders and are vocal leaders on the field. They're some of our best players at each position on the field and also off it, too. They've meant a lot to this team."

Zuralow scored one of the last goals of her career at Memorial Stadium, when she struck 45 seconds into the game to put Cal ahead, 1-0.

But Denver rattled of the next seven goals to take a 7-1 lead on Morton's fourth goal at 14:37. Aungier scored at 17:58 and Kennedy scored at 22:24 to make the score 7-3. Denver took that lead into halftime.

Denver scored four of the first five goals of the second half. After Denver's Ali Flury converted a free-position shot at 32:04, Cal junior defender Sam Price converted at 32:32 to make the score 8-4. But Denver's Lexi Sanders, Morton and Megan Carver scored the next three goals to give the Pioneers an 11-4 lead.

Aungier set up Dale's first goal at 52:19 and Zuralow assisted on Kennedy's goal at 53:16 to pull Cal within five at 11-6. After Morton scored her final goal at 53:25, Bears sophomore midfielder Alex Tickner scored at 57:16 and Dale scored her second a 59:46 to make the final score 12-8.

Cal, which is on a two-game losing streak, hosts the MPSF Championship tournament next week, April 30-May 3, at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. As the No. 2 seed, Cal will play its first game at 3 p.m. on May 1 against the winner of the April 30 quarterfinal match between No. 3-seeded Stanford and sixth-seeded Saint Mary's. As the top seed, Denver will play at 1 p.m. on May 3 against the winner of the April 30 quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Oregon and fifth-seeded UC Davis.

GAME SUMMARY

	         1	2	F
Denver	         7	5	12
California	3	5	8

Denver Scoring
Goals: Karen Morton 6; Megan Carver 2; Lexi Sanders 2; Ali Flury 2. Assists: Steph Coyne 5; Megan Carver 1; Jocelyn Kuchta 1; Lexi Sanders 1.

California Scoring
Goals: Madeleine Dale 2; Alyse Kennedy 2; Danni Zuralow 1; Brittany Aungier 1; Alex Tickner 1; Sam Price 1. Assists: Brittany Aungier 1; Danni Zuralow 1.

Records: Denver 11-5 (4-0 MPSF). California 9-7 (4-1 MPSF).