STANFORD - Despite getting eight saves from goalkeeper Natalie Dalton, the California field hockey team fell to No. 15 Northwestern, 3-0, Monday afternoon in a neutral-site game played on the Stanford campus. The Golden Bears fell to 1-1 on the year, while the Wildcats improved to 2-1.

Nevertheless, head coach Shellie Onstead saw some things she liked on Monday.

"I was really happy with the way Natalie played today," Onstead said. "I was really happy with the fact that we stayed in it and played to the end. We tried a couple tactics that we're going to need going forward. I just wanted to make sure they were fully in for the full 60 minutes, and they were great about that. We used a lot of players. We had to rotate a lot because of the conditions. So I'm really happy with a lot of things. With not much difference, I think we could come out on top. We hope we get to play them again in the postseason."

Dalton was tested early and often as Northwestern outshot the Bears, 18-5. The Wildcats got on the board early in the first quarter, though Dalton made four saves by the end of the opening period. 

Cal produced a couple scoring chances itself in the first quarter, with shots by Gabi Jimenez and Maddie Cleat. The shot by Jimenez just went high over the cage. 

Northwestern took a 2-0 lead into halftime after scoring its second goal in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter. Marin Seidel scooped a loose ball for a breakaway, and slipped a shot passed Dalton. Femke Delissen was able to get a stick on the shot, but couldn't deflect it enough to force it to go wide. 

In the third quarter, Northwestern took advantage of a series of consecutive penalty corners to finally connect on the last one to go up, 3-0. 

The Bears had a quality scoring chance in the final minute of regulation with Fionna Jensen recording a shot on goal, but Cal ran out of time in its efforts to try to break up the shutout. 

Cal returns to Berkeley to face No. 7 Michigan on Sunday, Sept. 8 at noon from Underhill Field.