The Cal women's rowing team moves on from one rivalry race to the next when it travels to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington on Saturday on the Montlake Cut.

The Bears, who fell to Stanford last weekend on the Oakland Estuary, now face off against their longtime rowing rival in their last competition for the Pac-12 Championships on May 16. Cal and Washington have alternated winning the past four NCAA Championships.

"The biggest challenge for us is that we have two rivals in Stanford and Washington, and we race them back to back," Cal head coach Al Acosta said. "Saturday was tough, and this Saturday is going to be tough as well – and fun."

The Bears were swept in all three races last Saturday in what was just their second competition of the season. In the truncated collegiate season due to COVID-19, Cal doesn't have much time getting up to speed for the most important races of the year.

After Saturday's races, Cal will move on to the Pac-12 Championships on May 16 with an eye on the NCAA Championships two weeks after that.

"The team did a great job of regrouping after the Stanford race," Acosta said. "We've had some really good practices. The goal is to go as fast, or maybe a little bit faster, than we were going at practice."

This year's dual at Washington is also serving as the main event for the annual Windemere Cup, an annual event in Seattle on the first Saturday of May that celebrates the opening day of boating season. The event typically features many races from different levels and draws thousands of fans, and usually includes at least one national team from abroad. Due to COVID-19, the traditional festivities surrounding the event were canceled, and it was turned into arguably the biggest rivalry competition in collegiate rowing.

The Bears also have a crew competing in the Sac State Invitational on Saturday. Cal will bring a second varsity eight, a varsity four and a second varsity four to race against UC San Diego, Santa Clara and Sac State.