TREASURE ISLAND – California rebounded from a semifinal loss Sunday to Arizona in the West Coast 7s with a shutout performance against Cal Poly to finish 5-1 on Ray Sheeran Field.
 
Cal's day began with a 32-5 quartefinal victory over fellow PAC 7 opponent Utah, a win which pushed the Bears through to the semifinals. In the contest, sophomores Nathan Zylstra and Sam Walsh helped Cal get on the board early with a pair of tries and the team held a 10-0 lead in the second minute. Freshman Max Schumacher scored three minutes later and made his own conversion to extend their lead to 17-0. Sophomore Jake Broekhuizen scored the Bears' final try of the half, giving Cal a 22-0 advantage. Utah got on the board in the opening minutes of the second period as Jason Frantz cut the Utes' deficit to 17. However, the Bears responded with two unanswered scores from Zylstra and sophomore Luke Freeman and Cal won by 27.
 
Three hours later in the semifinal, things remained scoreless in the opening minutes against Arizona until the fifth minute as neither side was able to find an advantage early on. The Bears scored the first try of the match in the fifth as Zylstra was able to push a score across and Cal led 5-0. However, Arizona managed to score a try of their own in the closing seconds of the half to make it 7-5 after a successful conversion. The Bears scored another try in the second, but it was not enough to counteract the Wildcats' two, resulting in the Bears' first loss of the tournament (21-10).
 
"The effort was there throughout the entire weekend," said Purdey. "The boys never gave up even when the odds were against us."
 
That mentality remained steadfast in the Bears' final match as they managed to avenge their first loss of the season against Cal Poly, upending the Mustangs 43-0. The first half was highlighted by four tries from four different players including sophomore Nick Bloom in the second minute, Walsh in the fourth, Seth Purdey in the sixth, and Kevin Saunders in the eighth. Cal continued apply the pressure in the second half, scoring three more tries including a pair from Marcus Shankland in the final two minutes.
 
"I think this weekend provided a good base for us to improve on in the next few weeks," said Zylstra. "Full credit to Arizona in our semifinal match, but we did well to close the tournament with a win against Cal Poly."
 
Overall, the Bears collected a total of 37 tries (compared to four from their opponents) including five from both Zysltra and Shankland. Furthermore, 16 of the 17 players who played this weekend scored at least one try. Three Bears also produced four scores including: Clark, Purdey, and Schumacher. There were also four players who appeared in five matches and both Max Clark and Jake Broekhuizen saw playing time in all six contests. UCLA went on to win the tournament with a 19-17 win over Arizona in the final. 
 
"I thought our focus and effort was really good," said head coach Jack Clark. "There were a few too many errors, some unforced. We can get away with these errors in matches we're likely to win, but they hurt us in the one competitive match we contested. All in all, we relied heavily on underclassmen and I thought they did mostly well."
 
Cal will now spend the next couple of weeks preparing for the PAC Rugby 7s Tournament November 9 and 10. The event will be hosted by Stanford.
 
Scoring Timelines:

Cal 32, Utah 5
 
01:00 Nathan Zylstra 5
02:00 Sam Walsh 5
05:00 Max Schumacher 5, Schumacher 2
07:00 Jake Broekhuizen 5
Halftime Score: Cal 22, Utah 0
08:00 Utah (Jason Frantz) 5
11:00 Zylstra 5
14:00 Luke Freeman 5
14:00 Nathan Zylstra 5
Starters vs Utah:
Nathan Zylstra, Nick Bloom, Jake Broekhuizen, Max Schumacher, Sam Walsh, Alex Brundage, Max Clark
Substitutions: Luke Freeman, Keanu Andrade, Cal Liebowitz, Jack Gallagher, Thomas Spradling
 
Cal 10, Arizona 21
 
05:00 Nathan Zylstra 5
07:00 Arizona (Matthew Start) 5, Matt Rogers 2
Halftime Score: Cal 5, Arizona 7
09:00 Arizona (Matthew Start) 5, #10 2
13:00 Arizona (Matt Rogers) 5, Matt Rogers 2
14:00 Max Clark 5
Starters vs Arizona
Nathan Zylstra, Kevin Saunders, Jake Broekhuizen, Max Schumacher, Sam Walsh, Seth Purdey, Marcus Shankland
Substitutions: Max Clark, Alex Brundage, Thomas Spradling
 
Cal 43, Cal Poly 0
 
02:00 Nick Bloom 5
04:00 Sam Walsh 5
06:00 Seth Purdey 5, Max Clark 2
08:00 Kevin Saunders 5, Max Schumacher 2
Halftime Score: Cal 24, Cal Poly 0
11:00 Max Clark 5, Clark 2
13:00 Marcus Shankland 5, Schumacher 2
14:00 Shankland 5
Starters vs Cal Poly
Nathan Zylstra, Nick Bloom, Jake Broekhuizen, Max Schumacher, Sam Walsh, Seth Purdey, Max Clark
Substitutions:  Thomas Spradling, Kevin Saunders, Cal Liebowitz, Luke Freeman