BERKELEY – The 22nd-ranked California closes its regular season with another go in the Bay Area Derby on Thursday night at Stanford.
 
The Bears look to split the 2017 series with the fourth-ranked Cardinal, after falling 3-0 in Berkeley earlier in the season. Stanford clinched its fourth consecutive Pac-12 title on Nov. 2 after beating UCLA 5-1 to seal the top spot.
 
The Bears rank second in the league, just ahead of Washington. If the Bears beat the Cardinal they will remain the runners-up which will be their best finish since 2010, when Cal earned the conference crown.
 
Washington, ranked 20th nationally, sits just behind Cal in third and will need a win at Oregon State on Thursday to contend for the second spot as well.
 
The Cal-Stanford match is set for a 7 p.m. (PT) kickoff at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
 
The Bears jumped back into the top 25 after going 2-0 last week to sweep both San Diego State (1-0) and UCLA (3-2) to close their home slate. Spencer Held scored the lone goal of the aforementioned within 30 seconds of subbing into the game; he headed in a cross from Josh Morton to seal the deal. The Bears clinched the victory in an all-out battle with the Bruins on Sunday with a brace from freshman Francisco Perez and the game-winner from Shinya Kadono, who leads Cal with seven goals this season.
 
Thursday's finale marks the Bears' fifth game against a top 25 opponent this season after facing a then 23rd-ranked Creighton (L, 3-0), eighth-ranked Stanford (L, 3-0), and Washington (W, 2-1/ L, 3-0) when it ranked 20th and 21st, respectively.
 
Cal has made several appearances in the top 25 this season, with its highest ranking coming in at 17th.
  
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STORYLINES FOR THE SEASON
 
Player, Player, Player, Player
The six-game win streak (Sept. 9 – Oct. 1) not only bolstered the team, but showcased some of California's depth as players Drake Callender, Paul Salcedo-Borrego, Shinya Kadono and Jose Carrera-Garcia each earned Pac-12 Player of the Week heading into the conference season. The last time the Bears had earned at least three such honors was in 2014, with a record six in the 2010 season. Callender nabbed his first and the team's first of the season on Sept. 12 after a career-best nine-save performance in Cal's double overtime win at Portland. Senior Salcdeo-Borrego hat-tricked his way into an honor on Sept. 26 after a career-best three-goal second half lifted Cal past Santa Clara and moved the team's win streak to four. Kadono, posted an insurance goal in Cal's 2-0 shutout at UCLA to open Pac-12 play and then blasted in his second game-winning goal in Cal's 1-0 victory at SDSU in the final 11 seconds of the contest to keep the Bears undefeated in conference play. Carrera-Garcia, who leads the conference with eight assists, picked up the team's fourth honor on Oct. 17 after posting two assists and a game-winning goal as Cal went undefeated in Week 7 downing Oregon State 2-0 and a then 19th-ranked Washington 2-1.
 
Drizzy Drake Callender
Sophomore Drake Callender is climbing up the charts. After a single-game career-high nine saves on Sept. 9 at Portland, including a crucial denial on a penalty kick in the 90' to force extended play, Callender leads the Pac-12 in saves (39), save percentage (.848) and saves per game (4.33). The Fair Oaks, Calif. native, also picked up the league's Player of the Week award on Sept. 12 for his performance against the Pilots.
 
JCG "Just Call'em Good"
Redshirt senior Jose Carrera-Garcia or "JCG" as he's referred to on the pitch, enters his fifth and final year with the Golden Bears. He leads the conference with eight assists and picked up his first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor this season on Oct. 17 after posting two assists and a game-winning goal as Cal went undefeated in Week 7 downing Oregon State 2-0 and a then 19th-ranked Washington 2-1. Elected as team co-captain, the preseason All-Pac-12 honoree's leadership has been best demonstrated in his consistent performance. JCG returns after leading the team with five assists and is the top scorer remaining from last year's lot after Christian Thierjung, who led the team with nine goals, graduated. Additionally, after amassing six goals in 2016 JCG was named to the All-Pac-12 first team. It was his second all-league honor after picking up second team recognition the season before. Known for his fancy footwork and aggressive attacking, the Ontario, Calif., native, knocked in a season-high brace against Oregon State in a double-overtime draw last season in one of the team's many closely-contested competitions.
 
Shining Shinya
Junior Shinya Kadono has come into his own early in the season for the Bears. The Irvine, Calif. native (by way of Japan), leads the team with five goals. He posted a pair of scores against USF on Sept. 17 in a 3-2 shootout win for the Bears, including the game-winning score in the 88th minute. He punched in a score in Cal's double overtime win at Portland, and continued his scoring frenzy in the league-opening weekend with a pair of scores in as many games to earn his first and the team's third Pac-12 Player of the Week award. Kadono, posted an insurance goal in Cal's 2-0 shutout at UCLA to open Pac-12 play and then blasted in his second game-winning goal in Cal's 1-0 victory at SDSU in the final 11 seconds of the contest to give the Bears six consecutive wins. Kadono has made his way to the starting 11 after seeing significant playing time off the bench a season ago.
 
Fab Five
What do you get when you combine seniors Jose Carrera-Garcia, Paul Salcedo-Borrego, Josh Morton, Ugo Rebechinni and Aravind Sivakumar? Nearly half of your returning starters that combined for close to 6,000 playing minutes last season. And that is fabulous news for the Golden Bears who lost impact players in Nick Lima, Christian Thierjung and Trevor Haberkorn to graduation a season ago. The group accounted for a third of the team's goals (8) and 15 of Cal's 25 total assists in 2016. Carrera-Garcia and Salcedo-Borrego were a forceful presence in the front and tabbed All-Pac-12 honors, each for the second time, to close out closely-contested league play. Carrera-Garcia was also recently named to the 2017 preseason all-conference team. What makes this group most potent, however, is their desire to conclude their collegiate careers with a return to the post season. The Bears have not seen NCAA tournament play since 2014, when the five returnees were sophomores, a fact that has not been lost on the group. The Bears upset a pair of top 25 teams (then 25th-ranked UCSB and 24th-ranked UCLA), last year but Cal fell on the wrong side of hard-fought decisions. The highlights and disappointments have sparked the senior leaders as they return to the pitch one final time in the Blue and Gold.
 
Six Newcomers
Cal welcomes six in-state newbies to the pitch this season and though young, the group is expected to have an immediate impact. In the midfield, Lucas Churchill (Sacramento, Calif.) and Francisco Perez (Santa Clarita, Calif.), who add depth with duo Alonzo Del Mundo (Richmond, Calif.) and Tommy Williamson (Villa Park, Calif.) listed as forwards. Defender Christopher Grey (San Jose, Calif.) joins the Bears and brings international experience as a member of the U.S. U-18 Men's National Team and the Jamaica U-20 Men's National Team. In the goal, Chris Gustini (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) adds some fresh legs and has two returnees to show him the way.
 
Soccer Scholars
While many people use the summers to relax and get away from everyday stresses, a pair of Cal men's soccer members kicked things up a notch, academically-speaking, with prestigious summer internships. Senior starter Aravind Sivakumar spent his vacation days interning at the Bay-Area based Twitter headquarters. The computer science major worked on the social media giants Ads Targeting team for 10 weeks that included machine learning and writing code. He also found time to take a selfie with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that can be seen on his Instagram @aravinho. Across the bridge, junior Halil Beqaj participated as a research intern at UC San Francisco. Intrigued by injuries that plagued former Cal teammate Trevor Long, Beqaj focused on femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), a condition that affects the hip. With local professors and physicians to guide him, the molecular and cell biology major participated in radiology imaging, data analysis and was observed a few surgeries. In 2016, nine Bears received All-Academic honors from the Pac-12 highlighting the team's balance of classroom success and athletic competitiveness. Sivakumar, picked up his second first-team honor.
 
2016 In Review
In 2016, the Bears compiled a 5-10-2 overall (1-8-1 in the Pac-12 Conference) to fall shy of an NCAA bid for the second consecutive season. Despite opening the season 4-2-1 and spending the early season in the top-25 of various national polls, the Bears faced a packed and potent Pac-12 schedule that tested the team.  Even with a pair of noteworthy wins over then 25th-ranked UCSB and league-opponent and then 24th-ranked UCLA, the Bears missed out on the playoffs, finishing sixth in the conference. While Cal took eventual national champion Stanford to the wire in both matchups, the Blue and Gold fell short in critical closely-contested games.
 
Grimes Among Country's Elite
Head coach Kevin Grimes begins his 18th season with the Golden Bears and has cemented himself as one of the nation's best. The 2013 NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) All Far West Region Coach of the Year has compiled a record of 178-115-40 record in Berkeley over the course of 16 seasons and trails only Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Bob DiGrazia in total wins (202 from 1952-1980).
 
Go-Pro Bears!
With starting goalie Jonathan Klinsmann signing to Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club in Berlin, Germany in the late summer, Cal's active professional soccer player count moves to 17, one of the most of any Division I program in the country. Recent graduates Nick Lima and Christian Thierjung have also made their professional debuts in the past year with Lima signing a homegrown contract with the San Jose Earthquakes and TJ, originally drafted 50th overall in the MLS SuperDraft to the Quakes, finding a home with the Tulsa Roughnecks FC. They join the following former Bears in the professional ranks: Stefano Bonomo (New York Red Bulls II, USL), David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes, MLS), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United, MLS), Servando Carrasco (Orlando City SC, MLS), Seth Casiple (Reno 1868 FC, USL), Chris Cortez (Phoneix Rising FC, USL), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC, MLS), Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC, MLS), Andrew Jacobson (Vancouver Whitecaps FC, MLS), Hector Jimenez (Columbus Crew, MLS), Eric Kronberg (Montreal Impact, MLS), Alex Mangels (San Francisco Deltas, NASL), Josh Saunders (Orlando City SC, MLS) and Andrew Wiedeman (FC Cincinnati, USL). Six of the 17 pro-Bears were goalies under longtime Cal goalkeeper coach Henry Foulk, who is entering his 18th season with the program as well.