BERKELEY --- No.21 California women's soccer completed its regular season schedule in less than ideal fashion, conceding a 4-1 result to Bay Area rival and No. 3 Stanford Friday afternoon at Goldman Field.Â
Cal will head into its probable NCAA Tournament first round match with a record of 13-5-2 (6-3-2 Pac-12) while Stanford will enter NCAAs with a 17-1-1 (10-1-0 Pac-12) record and the league's automatic bid as regular season champion.
The 37th iteration of the Big Kick got off to an exciting start in the first half. Stanford's Andi Sullivan and Michelle Xiao produced the match's first score in the 13th minute. Sullivan lobbed a pass into the box from about 35 yards that found the head of Xiao and barely slipped underneath the crossbar to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.
The visitors' advantage was short-lived, however, as the Golden Bears matched the Cardinal's tally less than two minutes later. In the 15th minute, freshman
Abigail Kim used her trademark speed to move deep into Cal's offensive box. Kim played a back pass to redshirt senior
Ifeoma Onumonu, who set up senior
Arielle Ship coming across from the middle of the box for the tying score and her tenth of the year.
In the second half, the Cardinal - who have spent the entire season in national top five - Â pulled away from the Bears. Sullivan (56'), along with Kyra Carusa (75'; penalty kick) and Beattie Goad (90') would each add scores to set the final margin and give Stanford its second straight Pac-12 title.Â
OTHER NOTES
Cal ends the year with a stellar home record of 8-2-1, marking the third straight season of at least seven victories at home...Ship's goal put her and Onumonu in elite company: no Golden Bear duo - at least through 1997 - has ever scored 10+ goals each in a single season until this year.
NEXT UP
Cal will find out its place in the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship on Monday, November 7. The selection show will air at 1:30 p.m. PT on
NCAA.com.
Â