Sept. 12, 2010

Final Stats
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BERKELEY - Though the No. 19/18 California women's soccer team was not the first ranked opposition of the year for unranked Long Beach State, the Golden Bears proved too much for the 49ers to handle. Sunday morning saw Cal handout a lesson in the power of the Pac-10 with a 6-0 win over Long Beach State at Edwards Stadium. Senior forward Alex Morgan led the Bears (4-0-2) with two goals, her eighth and ninth of the season, to victory over Long Beach State (4-3-1).

"I think our intensity was very, very good from the start of the game to the end," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "No matter who was on the field, we played within our system. By doing that, we earned the shutout. The amount of goals scored is exciting for the players."

The Bears rained six goals and 19 shots over the Beach to take the nonconference victory, which was the third consecutive time the Bears scored more than four or more goals. Cal got goals from four different players - Morgan, freshman forward Rachel Mercik, sophomore defender Rachel Clark and freshman forward Mekenna DeBack - as well as a LBSU own goal.

The 49ers are now 2-2 against ranked opposition, losing to then-No. 14 BYU on Aug. 20. The Beach earned a pair of 2-1 victories over then-No. 21 Washington State and then-No. 16 Virginia Tech on Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, respectively.

"We expected a battle," McGuire said of the 49ers. "There's no question that they're a talented team and that they are well coached. We just had to try and take advantage of any opportunities that came to us and we were fortunate to do that."

For the first two goals of the game - Morgan and Mercik teamed up for two scores in the span of roughly eight minutes. At 16:15, Morgan crossed it into Mercik, who then one touched it into the back left corner.

Mercik returned the favor to Morgan at in the 23rd minute. Sophomore midfielder Betsy Hassett took it down field, passed to Mercik. Mercik passed the ball into Morgan, who then shot it into the back left half of the net.

Shawna Gordon of Long Beach State had a golden opportunity with a shot on an empty goal after Kruger came out to stop an attack from the near side. Gordon shot it and missed right by less than foot, even more narrowly missing the post.

Cal took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break, outshooting the Beach, 9-4, at the conclusion of the first 45.

Thirty-one seconds into the second half, the Bears upped their lead to 3-0. Sophomore forward/midfielder Lauren Battung passed to Morgan, who dribbled around the defender and shot the ball into the right corner.

Long Beach State did nothing to help its own cause in the 48th minute, but rather increased Cal's lead to four. Senior Megan Jesolva took a corner kick, crossed it perfected into the middle. The ball hit off of several Bears and 49ers but LBSU's Lindsay Bullock knocked it past her own teammate, goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough, for an own goal.

After the fourth goal of the game, the Bear offense was silent for approximately 32 minutes, when freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick earned a corner kick. Freshman forward Kate Bennett took it, crossing it in to left side of the box, where Rachel Clark was poised. Clark headed it in the left side of the goal for her first score of the season.

To close the game, Fitzpatrick assisted with 4:56 minutes remaining on the clock, crossing it into DeBack. DeBack, who played 23 minutes, shot it to the right side for her second goal of her Cal career.

Overall, Morgan paced the Bears with four shots. Keepers Emily Kruger and Lauren Hein split time between the posts with Kruger making one stop and Hein grabbing two in the shutout.

Next weekend, Cal hosts two more games. Though San Francisco played two games at Edwards Stadium last weekend, the Dons return to Berkeley to take on the Bears for the first time this season. Cal hosts USF on Friday, Sept. 17 at 1 p.m. and closes the weekend against Pacific on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m., as well. Former Golden Bear and All-Pac-10 player Maite Zabala is an assistant coach for San Francisco. The Bears own the series record with the Dons at 10-3-2 and won the last meeting, 4-0, in 2006. The Bears have won the three most recent meetings with the Tigers to improve Cal's all-time record with UOP to 5-1-0.