BERKELEY – California rugby produced two wins on Saturday afternoon, defeating both UCLA and California Maritime in their home opener.
 
"We certainly want to acknowledge UCLA for their performance," said head coach Jack Clark. "They are a good group and they really made it difficult on us at times. We wish the Bruins the best going forward and we'll now turn our focus to Arizona."
 
In their first match against UCLA, the Golden Bears rode a productive second half to their second victory of the season over the Bruins.
 
"I felt we had a lot more energy today than the first time we played UCLA, but it was frantic in the first half," said junior Jack Manzo. "We didn't sort out ourselves until the second half, but once we did that, everything came into place."
 
In the match, senior Keanu Andrade recorded a hat trick in 29 minutes of play after replacing junior Ethan Greene in the 51st minute. Junior Marcus Shankland also collected a pair of tries in the 43rd and 77th minutes. Senior Ken Kurihara was 5-for-6 on conversions after entering the contest in the second half, all while playing in the flyhalf position, outside of his usual No. 9 spot.
 
"It was definitely a bit of a change from playing 9, but I'm happy to now have a game under my belt," said Kurihara. "It was certainly a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to another important week coming up."
 
In the abbreviated, 60-minute contest against California Maritime, Cal had eight different try scorers including sophomore Zach Neff who scored three-consecutive tries and five overall. Furthermore, there were four Bears who scored their first collegiate tries, including: freshmen Miles Beaubelle, Marco Caramanico, and Alex Aguero and sophomore transfer Matthew Goena.
 
Looking ahead, freshman Max Schumacher illustrated the team's continual desire to progress every week: "We have many things to improve on as a team and we have a week to make it better. UCLA gave us a good match and we appreciate them making the trip up."
 
Reflecting on Cal's first matches at home, Manzo said "It's always great to play in strawberry canyon, it really is a blessing having all of our parents and supporters come out."
 
The Bears will now return to the road where they will face Arizona in a PAC Rugby matchup on Saturday, February 15 at 2:00 p.m. MT (1:00 p.m. PT).
 
Scoring Timelines:
 
Cal 59, UCLA 7
 
06:00 Max Murphy 5
17:00 Sebastian Bader 5, Ethan Greene 2
Halftime Score: Cal 12, UCLA 0
43:00 Marcus Shankland 5, Ethan Greene 2
57:00 Keanu Andrade 5, Ken Kurihara 2
66:00 UCLA (Jake Arnold) 5, UCLA (Shane Barry) 2
68:00 Keanu Andrade 5, Ken Kurihara 2
72:00 Jason Severance 5, Ken Kurihara 2
74:00 Nick Bloom 5
77:00 Marcus Shankland 5, Ken Kurihara 2
79:00 Keanu Andrade 5, Ken Kurihara 2
 
Starters vs UCLA
1. Josh Warnock 2. Jack Manzo 3. Damon Wiley 4. Max Murphy 5. Sebastian Bader 6. Sam Golla 7. Jason Severance 8. Thomas Spradling 9. Henry Poon 10. Seth Purdey 11. Marcus Shankland 12. Ethan Greene 13. Adam Roeske 14. Nick Bloom 15. Max Schumacher
Substitutions:
25:00 – Jake Broekhuizen (Severance)
30:00 – Nathan Zylstra (Wiley)
51:00 – Keanu Andrade (Greene), Ken Kurihara (Purdey)
65:00 – George Salter (Bader), Sid Holland (Murphy), Jack Weigold (Zylstra)
66:00 – Max Clark (Poon)
71:00 – Jake Broekhuizen (Spradling), Jack Weigold (Warnock)
 
Cal 109, California Maritime 0
 
1:00 – Marco Caramanico 5, Nate Salter 2
10:00 – Oliver Sharpe 5,
16:00 – Luke Freeman 5
18:00 – Garrett Kay 5
26:00 – Zach Neff 5, Jack Gallagher 2
27:00 – Zach Neff 5, Jack Gallagher 2
30:00 - Penalty Try (Cal), 7
Halftime Score:  Cal 43, California Maritime 0
33:00 – Zach Neff 5, Jack Gallagher 2
35:00 – Alex Aguero 5, Jack Gallagher 2
40:00 – Alex Aguero 5, Jack Gallagher 2
42:00 – Zach Neff 5, Jack Gallagher 2
46:00 – Marco Caramanico 5, Jack Gallagher 2
49:00 – Miles Beaubelle 5, Max Clark 2
51:00 – Zach Neff 5
53:00 – Miles Beaubelle 5, Jack Casey 2
55:00 – Alex Aguero 5, Jack Casey 2
60:00 – Matthew Goena 5
 
Starters vs California Maritime
1. Owen Duvall 2. Marco Caramanico 3. Nick Leusing 4. Jacob Tuua-Burch 5. Hugo Berney 6. Garrett Kay 7. Zach Neff 8. Luke Freeman 9. Jack Gallagher 10. Nate Salter 11. Taylor Damron 12. Joe Roeske 13. Cal Liebowitz 14. Oliver Sharpe 15. Alex Brundage
 
Substitutions:
16:00 – Callum Janis (Salter)
18:00 – Michael Perrone (Duvall), Kevin Tuholski (Leusing), Matthew Dodd (Tuua-Burch)
22:00 - Niki Moore (Oliver Sharpe)
28:00 – Max Clark, Luke Ogburn (Roeske), Alex Aguero (Liebowitz), Matthew Goena (Brundage), Jake Shiff (Damron)
49:00 – Miles Beaubelle (Moore), Jack Casey (C. Janis), Max Clark (Jack Gallagher)