BERKELEY - After being a member of the MPSF Conference since being elevated to Division I status in 1999, the California women's lacrosse team will play its first-ever Pac-12 Conference game this week. The Golden Bears travel to Oregon to face the Ducks on Friday, March 9, followed by a trip to the rockies to face Colorado on Sunday, March 11. Five of the first seven conference games will be played on the road for the Bears. 

Cal will venture on the conference road trip with some momentum sporting a 4-2 record, the best start for the program since the 2007 Bears went 5-1 to begin that campaign. 

Most recently, the Bears defeated Robert Morris, 12-7, Monday night in Berkeley. Eliza Christman scored four times, one of six different goal scorers for Cal as Caroline Corzel, Susie Ropp and Kirsten Swanson also scored twice. In addition to having multiple scoring threats at the offensive end of the field, the Bears clamped down defensively in the second half Monday night, holding the Colonials to only one goal after halftime. 

Jenny Wilkens made six saves against Robert Morris and collected one ground ball, tying her with Hilary Lynch for fifth all-time in school history with 102. Allie Shropshire (2008-11) is fourth with 104. Wilkens' 13-save performance at UConn is a conference best this season, and, as a team, the Bears rank first in the Pac-12 in goals-against average (8.85). Individually, Wilkens ranks second in that category. 

Meredith Haggerty's two caused turnovers against Robert Morris gave her 50 for her career and tied her for sixth all-time in school history with Carey Preble (2002-04). Liz Reifsnyder (2004-07) is fifth with 53. Elizabeth Koehler is five caused turnovers shy of cracking the list. 

Offensively, the Bears boast nine different goal scorers this season, and all have at least four goals. Swanson paces the Bears in points (19) and goals (15), while Christman is second with 15 points and 13 goals. Swanson boasts three hat tricks this year, and has scored at least two goals in every game, while Christman has found the back of the net at least twice in all but one game this season. 

Oregon leads the all-time series with the Bears, 11-7, and the Ducks have won the last four consecutive meetings. Cal and Colorado are tied at two all-time with the Buffaloes winning the last two contests. 

Sunday's game at Colorado will be a bit of a homecoming for Cal assistant coach Paige Soenksen. The first-year assistant for the Bears garnered numerous accolades and honors as goalie for the Buffaloes from 2014-17.