BERKELEY - California was up against some stiff competition Sunday afternoon at California Memorial Stadium when the Golden Bears hosted No. 19 Denver in Berkeley. Squaring off against a high-pressure defense that is also strong on offense, the Pioneers who were victorious, 13-4. 

Goalkeeper Jenny Wilkens garnered a season-best 11 saves, while Eliza Christman scooped up a personal-best eight draw controls. 

Cal fell to 0-2 on the season. 

"Michigan ran a man-to-man defense against us, while Denver ran a zone against us, so it caused us to have a completely different offensive mentality, but it's something that we need to be able to fix in a day," head coach Brooke Eubanks said. "They're a high-pressure defense that causes a lot of turnovers, and I'd say the majority of our turnovers were caused today, not just unforced errors, and it's because of that pressure they put on."

It was Wilkens' 19th career double-digit save performance, and also the 36th out of 53 career games in which she's garnered at least eight saves. Wilkens also paced Cal with four ground balls. 

"I thought Jenny did really well today," Eubanks said. "She had 35 shots coming at her, and from a very good team. They have a high-scoring offense. She made the saves that she had to make. I thought she improved from her performance against Michigan on Friday, and that weekend improvement is always nice to see."

The Bears' scoring came from Christman and Ashley Ward in the first half, while Kirsten Swanson and Caroline Corzel netted back-to-back goals late in the second half. Susie Ropp assisted on Corzel's tally. 

One stat category that favored the Bears on Sunday was draw controls. Thanks to the eight from Christman, Cal gained the edge over Denver, 13-6.

"One of my former assistants used to say, 'Win the draw, rule the world.' I really do feel that way. If you would have shown me just that stat before the game, I would have thought it was going to be a great game for us. That's a huge stat to win, and doing that against a very good team on the draw, I'm confident we can fix the scoring drought."

Cal heads to Las Vegas next week for a pair of neutral-site matchups against Fresno State on Friday, Feb. 15, and San Diego State on Sunday, Feb. 17. The Bears return to Berkeley on Friday, March 22, against UC Davis.