BERKELEY - After almost pulling off an upset victory against No. 14 Syracuse two days earlier, California left no doubt who the winner would be in Sunday's contest as the Golden Bears defeated Central Michigan, 8-1, from Underhill Field. The eight goals were a season-best for the Bears. 

Cal out shot Central Michigan, 30-3, en route to improving to 4-7 on the year. 

Six different Bears scored, including two each from Megan Rodgers and Katrina Carter, while Monica Arteaga tallied the first goal of her collegiate career. Carter and Rodgers combined to score the first four goals of the game, as the Bears' veteran scoring threats put this game out of contention early. 

"You want to respect your opponent enough to play up to your potential for the entire game," head coach Shellie Onstead said. "That was the theme today. I didn't want to see complacency or casual play. I was a little unhappy in the first quarter, and then they did a really good job. Scoring all those goals allowed us to get everybody in and also get some players who have played a lot of minutes some rest. It was a great team effort."

Arteaga, Femke Delissen and Makaela Hoang also garnered two points with Delissen and Arteaga earning a goal and an assist and Hoang collecting two helpers.  

Carter got the scoring started within the first three minutes of the game when she tipped a shot off of a corner to get the Bears up, 1-0. Delissen and Lindsay Mathison recorded assists on the score. Less than two minutes later, Rodgers made it 2-0 when she tipped in a cross pass from Brynn Zorilla. 

Just over two minutes into the second quarter, Rodgers backhanded a shot past the goalie to put Cal up, 3-0, before Carter earned her second goal after receiving a pass at the top of the circle from Hoang. 

Maddie Cleat got in on the fun when she and Arteaga found themselves on a 2-1 breakaway. Cleat hauled in Arteaga's pass and beat the goalie to put Cal up, 5-0. Central Michigan answered on a corner just before halftime, but the Bears went into the break with a commanding 5-1 lead. 

Five minutes into the third quarter, Zorilla stole a ball from a Chippewa and blasted a shot past the goalie for Cal's first score of the second half. 

After another CMU turnover in its own end, Hoang collected a loose ball and fed it to Arteaga with the goalie out of position, which allowed Arteaga to garner her first collegiate goal. 

"That was cool to see," Onstead said. "Any time you see a player score her first goal, you see a little extra kick in her step, and that's really fun to experience."

The Cal scoring onslaught was completed with Delissen's tally in the fourth quarter, her first goal of the season. 

Now with 36 career goals, Rodgers ranks tied for fourth in school history in that category, and her 75 career points rank ninth in school history. 

Cal ventures east again next week for another trio of contests. The first game will be against Brown on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 1 pm PT.