Furious Rally By No. 10 Cal Falls Short

Sunday, October 23

Berkeley, Calif.

1:00 PM

California

5-1-212-3-2 | P12

Colorado

7-1-013-4-0 | P12

Team	1	2	OT 3	OT 4	Final F
Colorado	0	2	0	1	3
California	0	2	0	0	2

10/23/2016 4:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY --- A late goal by No. 22 Colorado halted a thrilling rally by the No. 10 California women's soccer team and gave the visiting Buffs a 3-2 double overtime victory over the Golden Bears Sunday afternoon at Goldman Field.

The home defeat - Cal's first regular season loss in Berkeley since November 1, 2015 - ended the Bears' nine-match unbeaten streak in Berkeley this season (8-0-1).

"I'm ultimately proud of our team for being able to pull itself up from two goals down and to have opportunities to win," head coach Neil McGuire said after the match. "When you lose in the manner that we did, it's challenging but it's the nature of the game. Soccer is a sport that's going to give you those moments - sometimes you're on the right side and sometimes you're on the wrong side but you have to keep your head up and keep moving forward."

Sunday's contest lived up to its billing as a meeting of the top two programs entering this weekend's action. The Bears and Buffs played a scoreless opening 45 minutes, with Cal holding an 11-6 edge in shots.

Once the second half began, Colorado found a way to get on the board. In the 54th minute, CU assist leader Danica Evans broke the stalemate with an unassisted score from about 20 yards out. More than eight minutes later, Evans struck again by converting Emily Bruder's assist into her second goal of the game (62').

Facing its largest deficit of the campaign, Cal stayed calm, picked up its pace and eventually willed itself back into the match. The Bears were able to square the contest in a span of under two minutes late in the second half. Freshman Maggie Bell was able to put a header into the net off a corner kick from redshirt junior Kelly Fitzgerald in the 88th minute.

Seventy-five seconds later, redshirt senior Ifeoma Onumonu capped a quality sequence of passing by senior Arielle Ship and junior Indigo Gibson to tie the match and send the season-high crowd of over 600 fans into a frenzy.

Like its last match against Utah on Thursday, the Bears had solid chances to claim victory in extra time, the best of them coming in the first overtime on a breakaway by Onumonu that was saved by CU's Jalen Tompkins.

The final minutes of the second overtime saw both teams working at a frantic pace to attempt to steal a victory instead of settling for a draw. Cal's last chance was negated by an offsides call, while Colorado's resulted in the game-winning score.

After a Bears foul, the Buffs scrambled to set up a free kick before time expired. Colorado's Stephanie Zuniga got her kick off and found the head of leading goal scorer Taylor Kornieck, who flicked the ball past junior Emily Boyd with mere seconds left on the clock.

OTHER NOTES
Before the match, seven of Cal's graduating seniors - Zoe Clark, Kelly Fitzgerald, Emma Fletcher, Lynsey Hromatko, Maddie Julian, Arielle Ship, and Alexa Vandevanter - were honored for their contributions to the Golden Bear program and the Berkeley community.

NEXT UP
Cal will embark on its final road trip of the season beginning on Thursday, October 27 at Arizona State (7 p.m. PT) and concluding on Sunday, October 30 at Arizona (11 a.m. PT).