In conjunction with Berkeley 150: 150 Years of Light, Cal Athletics takes a look back at a memorable game in Golden Bear history. 

The California women's lacrosse team hopped on a plane to Denver seeking its first conference championship in program history in April of 2004.
 
Only two things stood in the Golden Bears' way – having to beat tournament-host Denver in the semifinals and having to beat Stanford in the championship game after the Cardinal had already beaten Cal twice during the regular season.
 
The Bears had their ups and downs in 2004 from a memorable victory over No. 9 Ohio State to some tough defeats like an overtime loss to No. 17 Notre Dame. Still, then-head coach Jill Malko felt her squad had the tools to do something special.
 
"I had high expectations for that year, although we had a little bit of a lull in the middle of the season," Malko said. "We took Notre Dame into overtime and we certainly had the opportunity to come away with the win, but we came out of that game with a ton of confidence. I remember going on the Yale trip thinking we were going to win that one, but it's the things you learn. There are lessons learned about being over confident, but we had a lot of talent."
 
The offensive depth headlined the strength of that 2004 squad, led by Colleen O'Mara. Her 41 assists that year set the school single-season record and led the nation.
 
In addition to the offensive firepower, the strong play from true freshman goalie Hilary Lynch [Newland] gave Cal another reason for its confidence.
 
Playing such a critical position in her first season in the program, Lynch was so focused on her individual performance that she never thought about how far the Bears could go in 2004.
 
The fact that there was no backup goalie added to the pressure on Lynch. In fact, Cal had "tryouts" with the rest of the team to see who would be the emergency backup in case Lynch got injured during a game.
 
"It was nerve-wracking but so fun," Lynch said. "Thank goodness for my goalie coach, Jen Nardi.  She essentially taught me how to be a real goalie. My form in high school was pretty nonexistent. I would really just launch my body in front of the ball. I remember being paranoid about getting hurt since we didn't have another goalie on the roster. There was a lot of enthusiasm but, in the end, I think everyone was happy that I remained healthy all season."
 
Landing in Denver for the tournament, Lynch said the Bears felt good about their chances of beating Denver since they had previously defeated the Pioneers in Berkeley in the second game of the year.
 
Sure enough, Cal handled the Pioneers on their home field, posting a 17-12 win, setting up a third attempt to beat the Cardinal in the tournament final.
 
In order to beat Stanford, it would take a comeback effort. Stanford led, 10-8, with 90 seconds left in regulation.
 
Lynch remembers how much the team's strong veteran leadership was pivotal during the late and intense moments of the game.
 
"We had our work cut out for us, but I don't ever remember feeling a sense of panic," Lynch said. "We knew Stanford so well and the coaches had done a great job scouting and giving us the knowledge we needed.  I remember our halftime talk being really positive and I think that is when we all realized beating them was a real possibility."
 
The Bears needed to try something different to throw Stanford off-guard, and the strategy worked.
 
"We were down by two, and every goal from that point on until we took the lead was a right-handed player shooting and scoring left hand up," Malko said. "We worked so hard all season about being able to use both hands. I didn't even realize it at the time that each goal was scored with their non-dominant hand on the top, which really paid off. People are making decisions about how to play defense against you based on which hand is your strong hand. We worked on that skill all year and it paid off for us. Perseverance and playing tough from a super smart team."
 
Tying the championship game at 10, Cal thought the game was headed into overtime, but the Bears surprised even themselves, scoring with six seconds left to become champions.
 
Leanne Zilioli tallied the game-winning goal, faking out her defender and scoring from the top of the eight-meter mark.
 
Malko remembers feeling bad for some of the Stanford players. There were numerous cross-friendships from the camaraderie that naturally builds from so many East Coast players on both teams coming to the West Coast to play college lacrosse. Also, a lot of the Cardinal players were ones that Malko had tried to recruit to come to Cal.
 
Still, she was ecstatic for her Bears.
 
"There wasn't a lot of talking, just a lot of screaming and running around," Malko said. "I was so proud of them. We had such high expectations at the start. They deserved it. The way that they came from behind, down by one with 30 seconds left to win the game, I thought we were going to overtime for sure. It was just complete disbelief when we won."
 
The playing field wasn't the last time these teams saw each other that day. The Bears flew back on the same flight as Stanford. It was a happy flight, at least for those wearing Blue and Gold.