SAN DIEGO - A back-and-forth battle that saw California lead by five goals at one point did not end the way the Golden Bears wanted it to, as Brown held on and defeated Cal, 14-13, Wednesday night from the San Diego State campus. Now with the nonconference portion of the schedule completed, the Bears (2-9, 0-2) have six MPSF contests left as they attempt to clinch a berth in the conference tournament. 

Wednesday's loss was Cal's fourth one-goal loss this season, and the fourth out of the last five losses overall. 

Jena Fritts, Cal's leading scorer this season, paved the way for the Bears with five points on four goals and an assist. Elizabeth Pellechi also scored twice while Susie Ropp collected two assists, adding to her team-leading total in that category. 

Defensively, Meredith Haggerty led Cal with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Chloe Landry notched seven draws. 

The Bears' defensive leader, Jenny Wilkens, garnered another double-digit save performance with 10 stops against Brown. It was the 13th of her career and her seventh this season. 

After Brown took a 3-2 lead halfway through the first half, Cal scored six unanswered goals to take an 8-3 lead at the 11:22 mark in the opening half. 

Brown started chipping away at the lead and trailed Cal, 8-6, at halftime. Brown then went on to score three of the first four goals of the second half to tie the contest at nine with just over 22 minutes left in regulation. 

Fritts scored back-to-back goals to give the Bears a 12-10 lead at the 16:40 mark, but Brown followed that by scoring the next four goals, which proved to clinch the game for them. 

Cal travels north to face No. 9 USC on Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m. from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That contest can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks. Following the clash with the Trojans, the Bears return to Berkeley for four of the final five games of the regular season.