TUCSON, Ariz. – Eight Bears scored nine tries at William David Sitton Field on Saturday as California rugby improved to 8-0 with a 55-13 victory over University of Arizona.
 
"We wish Arizona the best going forward," said head coach Jack Clark. "They are a good team with some excellent players. On a given day, the Wildcats are capable of beating many higher ranked teams. I thought we were good in some aspects of play, while disappointing in a few other areas. We have much more in us, as we're a fair ways from our potential. There are very good teams on the horizon and we will need to keep improving."
 
Cal kept the Wildcats off the board for the first 50 minutes of the contest which included a 22-0 lead at halftime. The Bears stretched their advantage to 34-0 before Arizona scored a pair of penalty kicks. Cal responded with three tries over the next ten minutes, but the Wildcats managed to score their first try of the match in the 77th-minute to make it 55-13.
 
"The reason our first 60 minutes looked quite good was because everyone was really focused and knew their roles," said sophomore lock Max Murphy. "We started to slip when we got comfortable with the score which is something we can't do as we get farther into the season."
 
Senior Sam Cusano played in his first match of the season on Saturday and scored a try in the 23rd minute.  
 
"It was really exciting to get back out there," said Cusano. "It's been fun to watch the boys this spring, but to get a chance to come back and compete is great. We had a lot of possessions in the first half and going into the second, but something we need to work on is finishing tries and not losing our structure."
 
After the varsity match, the Bears defeated the Wildcats 98-3 in the reserve-grade contest.
 
Cal will now return home to begin preparations for Homecoming weekend as they will host British Columbia on Saturday, February 22 at 1:00 p.m. The match will be broadcast by Pac-12 Networks and presale tickets can be purchased here.

 
 
Scoring Timeline:
 
Cal 55, Arizona 13
 
08:00 Jack Manzo 5
19:00 Max Schumacher 5
23:00 Sam Cusano 5
37:00 Seth Purdey 5, Max Schumacher 2
Halftime Score: Cal 22, Arizona 0
43:00 Seth Purdey 5, Max Schumacher 2
46:00 Henry Poon 5
52:00 Arizona 3 (#10)
55:00 Arizona 3 (#10)
60:00 Jason Severance 5, Ken Kurihara 2
63:00 Nathan Zylstra 5, Ken Kurihara 2
67:00 Keanu Andrade 5, Ken Kurihara 2
77:00 Arizona 5 (#9), Arizona 2 (#10)
 
Starters vs Arizona
1. Josh Warnock 2. Nathan Zylstra 3. Jack Manzo 4. George Salter 5. Max Murphy 6. Sam Golla 7. Sid Holland 8. Thomas Spradling 9. Henry Poon 10. Seth Purdey 11. Marcus Shankland 12. Keanu Andrade 13. Ethan Greene 14. Sam Cusano 15. Max Schumacher
Substitutions:
11:00 – Adam Roeske (Greene)
24:00 – Jason Severance (Holland)
30:00 – Ken Kurihara (Blood substitution for Roeske – back on at 35:00)
50:00 – Lone Toailoa (Manzo)
59:00 – Ken Kurihara (Cusano)
64:00 – Max Clark, Jake Broekhuizen, Jack Weigold (Poon, Golla, Warnock)