TEMPE, Ariz. – Cal (2-4, 0-1 Pac-12) scored a season-high 15 goals including a career-best six from Susie Ropp but fell 17-15 to Arizona State (5-2, 1-0 Pac-12) in the Pac-12 opener for both teams Friday at Sun Devil Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.

Cal got behind by three goals early in the game for the second consecutive contest with the Sun Devils scoring three unassisted goals in the first 5:35 after San Diego State had done the same 6:24 into last Friday's game against the Aztecs.

"We are going to focus on how we start games and come out with the disciplined high intensity that we need," Cal head coach Brooke Eubanks said. "Susie had a great day and was able to finish on some diverse opportunities. The attack is building off momentum from previous games and heading in the right direction."

"Our offense definitely was able to find the openings in their zone a lot better today," Ropp added. "We are getting better at working together on and off the ball. In terms of the start, it's always tough to get behind at the beginning but I never once doubted that we would come back. We kept our heads in it and knew that we had to chip away one goal at a time."

Arizona State's Carley Adams began the quick jump on the Golden Bears just 36 seconds into Friday's contest by scoring at 29:46 and was followed by Kerri Clayton (27:35) and Tess Keiser (24:35).

Ropp (23:57) and Amanda Morse (21:15) answered with back-to-back goals to pull the Bears within 3-2. Cal would cut the Sun Devils' advantage to a single goal twice more but never tie or take the lead.
Arizona State scored the next three goals to go ahead, 6-2, but Cal twice sliced the Sun Devils' lead back to a pair of goals at 6-4 and 9-7 on first-half tallies by Marisa Kuberra (11:01) and Morse (0:23).

Katie Brodsky scored the final goal of the first half with 0:08 to go and Olivia Hood scored the first goal of the second half with 26:49 remaining to get ASU's lead back to four at 11-7.

The Bears responded with three straight scores from Ropp, Kuberra and Quinnlyn Mason in less than a 90-second period to cut ASU's lead to 11-10 with 25:01 to go. Arizona State got one goal back on a Paige McGlothin goal at 23:08 before an unassisted goal by Zaccaro at 22:04 got Cal back to within one a second and final time.

Arizona State responded by scoring the next three goals to push its lead back to four.

The team's traded the next four goals before Cal pulled to within the final 17-15 score on the final two scores of the game on a one-up goal by Kuberra with 5:01 to go and Ropp's sixth and final goal with 2:39 remaining. The Bears got four shots off over the final 2:39 but could not connect.

Ropp finished with a game-high seven points on her six goals and one assist, while Kuberra (three goals, one assist) and Zaccaro (two goals, two assists) each had four points. Quinnlyn Mason added three points on a pair of goals and one assist while Amanda Morse registered the first two collegiate goals of her career.

Clayton finished with a team-high five points for Arizona State all on goals as the Sun Devils had nine players pick up points and eight score goals while winning their third straight.

Cal led Arizona State in several statistical categories including shots (37-36), shots on goal (28-24), ground balls (20-15), draw controls (21-13), free position shot (14-6) and free-position goals (6-2).

Arizona State goalkeeper Berkeley Bonneau had 13 saves, while Cal's Makayla Ward made seven.

Cal concludes its current season-long five-game road trip with a Pac-12 game at No. 8/8 USC on Sunday (Noon PT) before returning home for its first conference game at California Memorial Stadium against Colorado on Friday, March 13 (7 pm PT).