Sept. 17, 2010
Final Stats
BERKELEY - Though the Golden Bears outshot the Dons, 12-2, all it took was one successful penalty kick for the No. 16/22 California women's soccer team to notch a 1-0 win over San Francisco on Friday afternoon. Senior forward Alex Morgan converted the PK opportunity for her nation-leading 10th goal of the year.
"It was a really tough match," Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. "San Francisco came in well prepared, well structured and well organized. USF head coach Mark Carr did a nice job in taking away some of our strengths. Certainly, we're really pleased with our team because they worked hard to get the result."
The brunt of the action came in the 50th and 51st minutes.
Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick took a shot on goal that ever so narrowly missed the inside of the left post thanks to a save from goalkeeper Heather Haney. The punch out gave Cal a corner kick, which was taken by Morgan, who will return to the U.S. senior national team in two weeks.
Morgan crossed it perfectly into the goal mouth, where a Don hit it with her hand, awarding Cal the penalty kick. Morgan was assigned the kick, and she knocked it to the left side of the goal with Haney diving to the right, completely missing the ball and giving Cal that important 1-0 lead.
"Anytime any of strikers have the ball from that distance, you're hoping they'll score," McGuire said. "We're just happy that Alex was able to tuck it away."
Cal looked to add another in the 85th minute when sophomore forward Samantha Walker took a shot on goal that Haney had to save.
The game was the first in the past four that the Bears did not score more four or more goals. Cal, however, did continue its streak of outshooting its opponents, today by a double-digit margin for the fifth consecutive match, at 12-2. Cal has now outscored its past three opponents by a grand total of 19-2, including an 8-1 shellacking of Hawaii and last Sunday's 6-0 shutout over Long Beach State. The Bears are now 11-3-2 overall with the Dons.
"I don't think this is the best performance we've had this season," Morgan said. "But we got a goal and won. Now we just need to move onto Sunday's game against Pacific."
Cal brings a three-game winning streak against Pacific into this weekend with the Bears boasting the all-time record with UOP at 5-1-0. The Bears beat the Tigers, 3-0, in exhibition play to start the 2009 season, but have not met Pacific in an official capacity since 2005, which also saw a 3-0 Cal win on Sept. 14, 2005.
Earlier this season, Pacific defeated Hawaii, 1-0, in the Tigers' first game of the season - an opponent that Cal defeated, 8-1. Two weeks after the Bears tied in overtime, 0-0, with Santa Clara, Pacific lost to then-No. 9 SCU, 2-1, on Sept. 10.
The game against Pacific kicks off 1 p.m. at Edwards Stadium and is free to attend.
