BERKELEY – California hosts Western Athletic Conference (WAC) member Grand Canyon University Saturday at 2 p.m. on Witter Rugby Field in Round One of the national collegiate 15s postseason.
 
The Golden Bears (19-2) enter the 16-team, single-elimination championship tournament as the No. 3 seed, having earned an automatic qualifying bid as winners of the PAC Rugby Conference. As such, they welcome the No. 14 seed in GCU (7-2), which earned an at-large invitation to the postseason.
 
The winner of Round One's contest earns a berth in the national quarterfinals April 21 against the winner of Navy vs. Indiana. The Midshipmen and Hoosiers meet Saturday at 11 a.m. PT in Bloomington in their Round One matchup.

Gates open at 1 p.m. Saturday on Witter Rugby Field, where all Cal students are admitted free, as are all active military personnel with valid ID. Tickets are $10 each for adults, $5 each for youth ages 10-19 and seniors 65 and older, and $3 each for groups of 10 or more. Advance online tickets can be purchased here.
 
Although Saturday will be the first meeting in 15-a-side play between the Bears and Grand Canyon, Cal is 3-0 all-time vs. GCU in 7s play, having defeated Grand Canyon most recently by the score of 24-17 on Oct. 7 in the semifinals of the West Coast 7s on the Central Coast. The Blue and Gold outscored GCU in that contest, four tries to two, with a lineup that included six freshmen and a sophomore.
 
Cal shares seven common opponents with GCU on their respective spring schedules, both playing, in alphabetical order, Arizona, ASU, Cal Poly, San Diego State, Santa Clara, UC Davis and Utah. The Bears won all seven of those contests by an average score of 74-6. Overall on the season against all opponents, Cal is averaging 57.6 points per game on offense and 12.0 ppg defensively.
 
A private Christian university in Phoenix with an on-campus enrollment of 20,000 students, GCU took six victories from those seven common opponents with an average score of 42-23, close to their season averages of 46.5 ppg on offense and 24.1 ppg on defense. Grand Canyon's loss on Jan. 12 at home to Arizona, 53-22, contrasts to Cal's 48-17 win over the Wildcats Feb. 17 in Tucson. The only other loss this spring for GCU came on the road against Brigham Young, also a 53-22 result on Jan. 27.
 
"We feel when we get it right we can beat any team in the competition," said head coach Jack Clark. "Unfortunately, when we play unskillfully we are vulnerable to certain defeat. We don't have much of a margin for error. It's just where our team is at present. Grand Canyon University is plenty good enough to beat us."
 
The 15-a-side season will be over for the side that comes out on the losing end Saturday in this single-elimination tournament on the road to the national championship. For the team that succeeds, a slot in the national quarterfinals awaits.