STANFORD – Cal men's soccer coach Kevin Grimes thought his team had been playing in playoff form the past couple weeks.

When a perfect storm of injuries and inexperience put the Bears out of NCAA Tournament contention, Thursday's season-finale at No. 6 Stanford became Cal's postseason.

The evening at Cagan Stadium ended with a mixture of smiles, laughter and tears of joy as the Bears knocked off their rival 1-0 in Palo Alto.

"I've been around this block 19 times and I know when a team is in playoff form," Grimes said. "I told the team we are peaking at the right time. It's unfortunate we've had some tough results and some tough injuries this year, but they played like they were in playoff form tonight."

Both teams created quality scoring chances, and the match appeared headed to overtime before Cal freshman defender JJ Foe Nuphaus came out of nowhere on a corner kick to head a shot past Stanford goalie Andrew Thomas in the 85^th minute. It was the first goal of Nuphaus' career.

"I wasn't going to go for the header, but Coach told me with five minutes left to go in," Nuphaus said. "I was able to sprint in and I saw where the ball was going, so I just dove into it."

Junior goalies Noah Texter and Drake Callender combined for Cal's fifth shutout of the season. The victory snapped a 10-match winless streak against Stanford. Cal's last win over the Cardinal came on Oct. 20, 2013.

"It's the first time beating Stanford in my career. It's something personal," said Cal senior Shinya Kadono, who broke into tears when the clock ran out. "We've been unlucky with some tough matches and we wanted to finish strong. This is a perfect way to end it. I couldn't contain my emotions."

The Bears (7-9-2, 3-7 Pac-12) lost senior Spencer Held to a season-ending injury before the year ever started and freshman Christian Gomez suffered a broken leg in the third match of the season.
Callender, All-Pac-12 midfielder Sam Ebstein, midfielder Simon Lekressner and defender Christopher Grey also all missed time with injuries this season.

Cal also played the season with a roster with 12 true freshmen or redshirt freshmen – exactly half of its roster.

"This is incredible for the seniors more than anything," Grimes said. "They've had such a difficult year with dealing with lineup changes and injuries, and going through some growing pains with a lot of young players. But they're not young anymore. Look at the way they played tonight. They played incredible."

Kadono finished his senior season leading the Pac-12 with 12 goals, 26 points and 58 shots. He had three shots Thursday night and Ebstein had two.

Texter and Callender made two saves each.

"The seniors have put so much work into this program," Nuphaus said. "It's huge for them to go out like this. We didn't have the season we wanted, but to do something like this on Stanford's field is just how we wanted it."
 
Along with Kadono, Ebstein and Held, fellow seniors Sam Junqua and Halil Beqaj wrapped up their Cal careers on Thursday.

"My only wish for the group is that we were going to play next week," Grimes said. "I really believe that if we wouldn't have had the injuries we had that we would have been there. The way we played tonight, we are a playoff team."