Nov. 1, 2009
Final Stats
BERKELEY - The California women's soccer team netted a 3-2 Pac-10 Conference victory in overtime against Arizona State on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. Redshirt junior Lisa Kevorkian scored the game-winning goal in the 98th minute to push the Golden Bears to 10-7-1 overall and 4-4-0 in the Pac-10 while the Sun Devils fall to 7-7-3 and 0-6-0 in conference play.
"Our team performed well today in a very difficult game," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "We must credit Arizona State as they played hard. Cal showed great resolve to prevail in overtime."
After taking five shots through the first 97 minutes of play, Kevorkian put one through at 97:36 for her team-leading fourth gamewinner of the 2009 season. Katie Suits was credited with the assist.
"I've never been on the bottom of a dog pile before - it was a great feeling," Kevorkian said of her team's celebration following her goal. "When Suits crossed the ball, I knew I had to get a piece of it so I jumped as high as I could and hoped for the best. With golden goals, it's do or die. I just put all my weight behind it."
With her Sun Devils trailing, 2-1, Alexandra Elston made things interesting in the 54th minute, when she did a half-bicycle kick off a header from Bianca Doller to even the score at 2-2 and eventually force overtime.
The Sun Devils got on the board first with a goal in the seventh minute. Courtney Tinnin drew Cal keeper Gina Pellegrini out, dribbled past her and touched it in for a goal.
Barely two minutes later, junior forward Alex Morgan powered off on a fast break. Despite being trailed by three defenders, Morgan past them to tie the game for the first time, 1-1, with 37:12 remaining in the half. Sophomore midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir had the assist.
Morgan played a key role in Cal's second score, earning a penalty kick after going down in the box at 15:31. Taking the kick was senior Katie Oakes, who was playing in her final home game as a Golden Bear at Edwards Stadium, and she shot it to the left side of the box as the ASU keeper dove to the right.
Overall, the Bears outshot the Sun Devils, 11-10, and took four corners to ASU's three. Kevorkian paced Cal with six shots. Pellegrini made two stops between the posts.
The Bears bring their 2009 regular season to a close with a bout with No. 1 Stanford on Sunday, Nov. 8 on the Cardinal's home turf. The match, which will be televised on FSN, is set to kick off at 1 p.m. The Cardinal, which clinched a share of the Pac-10 title over the weekend, is a perfect 19-0-0 overall and 8-0-0 in conference play with seven wins over ranked opponents. Stanford holds the lead against Cal, 11-13-4, with its most recent victory coming last season, 3-0, in Berkeley.
Golden Bear Notes
~Lisa Kevorkian has now scored in Cal's last three games.
~The Bears extended their advantage against the Sun Devils, 7-4-2. The two squads tied 2-2 in double overtime in their last meeting on Oct. 24, 2008.
~The 545 fans in attendance for Sunday's match marked the second highest attendance for the 2009 season.
~This was the fifth time that the Bears have played in an overtime game. It was their first overtime goal of the year. Cal is now 1-3-1 in overtime games.
~The goal-scoring combination of Katie Suits to Lisa Kevorkian occurred for the first time this season on Sunday. It was the third time this year that Katrin Omarsdottir had assisted Alex Morgan on a goal.
