TEMPE, ARIZ. --- No. 18 California women's soccer rebounded from only its third loss of the season to claim a 2-0 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils Thursday evening at Sun Devil Stadium.

Cal (13-3-2, 6-1-2 Pac-12) displayed its season-long ability to bounce back against ASU (6-9-2, 1-7-1 Pac-12), improving to 3-0 after suffering a loss in 2016. 

The visiting Golden Bears were held scoreless in the first half for the third straight match but not for lack of effort: Cal led ASU 6-3 in shots and matched the Sun Devils 2-2 in corners through 45 minutes.

Despite the advantage, head coach Neil McGuire felt that the team could do more.

"Arizona State played a bit better and sharper than us in the first half and that gave us some trouble," McGuire said of the opening period.

Cal's persistence and second half adjustments would eventually pay off. In the 75th minute, redshirt junior Kelly Fitzgerald launched a shot from at least 25 yards that made it past ASU goalie Megan Delaney to put the Bears on the board. Fitzgerald's goal was her fourth of the season and gave her at least one point in back-to-back contests after missing the previous seven matches due to injury.

Senior Arielle Ship would seal the victory on a penalty kick less than ten minutes later after fellow senior Emma Fletcher drew a Sun Devil foul. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year now has nine goals on the season, with nearly half of them coming on PKs.

With the victory, McGuire tied the Cal school record for victories (124) - a mark held by the opposite him on the sidelines, former Cal front man Kevin Boyd.

McGuire humbly deflected attention away from himself and onto the program: "Every win this program has is for the players, our alums, and our school. We only focus on team success," McGuire said.

Junior Emily Boyd's five-save clean sheet also tied a school record - the single season shutout record she matched last season and shares with former Golden Bear Karen Cook from the 1996 campaign.

NEXT UP
Cal will play its final regular season road match on Sunday, October 30 at 11 a.m. PT against the University of Arizona. The match will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.