BERKELEY – Somehow, the Cal men's soccer team gained experience and inexperience at the same time.

The Bears head into the 2019 season with 11 sophomores that made up almost half the roster last season. Six of the 11 saw significant playing time, and head coach Kevin Grimes is excited that will pay dividends this fall.

Still, Cal has only four seniors, and with the infusion of nine more freshmen this year, 20 of the 27 student-athletes on this year's roster are freshmen and sophomores.

"It's a freshman-sophomore dominated team, but the freshmen are so talented that they complement the entire group really well," Grimes said Wednesday after the first day of training camp for the 2019 season. "Those 11 freshmen from last year – you can definitely see that they've matured. They're older and know their way around the block."

The Bears are coming off an up-and-down 7-9-2 season that ended on a euphoric high. Cal knocked off No. 6 Stanford in its regular-season finale, giving every player on the roster his first ever victory over the Cardinal.

That culminated a strong overall finish to the season for the Bears, and Grimes is hoping that experience will carry over to the fall.

Cal returns a strong back end of the field, with All-Pac-12 goalies Drake Callender and Noah Texter both back for their senior seasons. Sophomore defenders JJ Foe Nuphaus and Ian Lonergan were two of those freshmen who gained invaluable experience last year – each started every game he played, with Nuphaus scoring the game-winning goal in the Stanford win. Junior Christopher Grey joins that duo to form an impressive defense.

Senior midfielder Simon Lekressner battled injury throughout last season but is potentially one of the best at his position in the conference.

The big question for the Bears as they head into the season is determining where they will find scoring. Shinya Kadono had one of the best offensive seasons in school history last year, leading the Pac-12 with 12 goals and 26 points. The rest of the team combined for 10 goals.

With Kadono now playing for Tormenta FC in USL League One, scoring will have to come from somewhere else. The Bears also lost attacking midfielder Sam Ebstein. Both he and Kadono were All-Pac-12 players.

"It's a great opening and a void to fill," Grimes said. "There are several guys on the team that can take that role that Shinya left for the program because he was a great goal-scorer. It's exciting for anyone in those attacking positions that feels like they can finish."

Some of the candidates to increase their offensive production include sophomores Alonzo Del Mundo, Taylor Davila and Jonathan Estrada along with freshmen Arman Samimi. Redshirt freshman Christian Gomez is also back from a broken leg he suffered during the third game of last season.

Del Mundo had three goals last season and Davila scored two.

Cal may not have to score many goals to be successful with Callender or Texter playing goalie. Callender is a two-time United Soccer Coaches NCAA All-Far West Region selection while Texter earned All-Pac-12 Third Team accolades last year despite playing in just seven matches (five starts).

"Both of them are excellent, and we've got strong goalkeeping 1 through 5," Grimes said. "That's a great area of the field for us right now."

The Bears open the 2019 season at home Aug. 30 against Omaha.