SEATTLE–  The Cal women's soccer team continued its winning ways on Saturday night, opening Pac-12 play with a 1-0 victory over Washington at Seattle's Husky Soccer Stadium. Redshirt sophomore Anja Koehler tallied her first career goal and Cal's defense posted its third consecutive clean sheet as the Golden Bears (8-1-0) extended their win streak to six in a row.

This is Cal's longest winning streak since the 2014 season and levels the all-time series with the Huskies at 13-13-1. The Golden Bears have now won their conference opener for the third time in the last four seasons and improve to 3-1 on the road this season.

Cal's victory snaps a five-game winning streak for the Huskies (7-3-0), who, prior to today's match, had not allowed a goal since August 27.

After scoring a season-high three goals in the non-conference finale against Oklahoma State, Cal was aggressive on offense from the opening whistle. The Bears held the majority of the possession in the first half and outshot the Huskies 5-2 in the opening period. Seniors Haley Lukas, Guro Bergsvand, and Indigo Gibson all had quality looks from outside the box, but Washington goalkeeper Sarah Shimer proved up to the task.

The Bears finally broke through in the opening stages of the second half, as Koehler tallied her first career goal in the 62^nd minute. Freshman midfielder Luca Deza sent a cross in from the right flank and that found Koehler making a backpost run. The redshirt sophomore from Oceanside, California, volleyed it in to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 advantage.

"Everyone worked incredibly hard tonight," said Koehler, who made her first start of the 2017 season. "I thought we did a great job playing together and keeping possession. We stuck it out and were finally able to break their defense down."

After taking the lead, Cal continued to create opportunities in the attacking half. Mia Corbin had a pair of chances from just outside the box while Abi Kim was denied on a one-vs-one with Shimer. Shimer ended the night with season-high eight saves while Cal goalkeeper Emily Boyd was credited with one save in the shutout. The reigning Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week, Boyd recorded the 31st clean sheet of her career, moving into a tie for sixth-most shutout in conference history.

The Golden Bears defense has now strung together back-to-back-to-back shutouts and has allowed just one goal in the last 557 minutes of play.

Cal continues Pac-12 play on Thursday, hosting Arizona State at 4 p.m. PT in the Bears' conference home opener. The Golden Bears will close out the weekend on Sunday, October 1, hosting Arizona at 1 p.m.

"It's awesome to start conference with a win," said Koehler after the match. "We obviously have a long ways to go, but we want to continue down this road, and keeping playing hard and playing together. I'm really excited to see what we can do the rest of the season."

For more information and updates on the team, follow the Golden Bears on Twitter (@CalWSoc), Instagram (@CalWSoc), and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWSoc).