BERKELEY – California women's soccer kicks off the postseason with a Bay Area rivalry match with Santa Clara in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Championship on Saturday. The game will be held on Buck Shaw Field at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara at 1 p.m.
 
The Broncos will be the Bears' first round opponent for the third consecutive championship appearance. This will be the seventh time the two programs go head-to-head in the NCAA Championship, and the sixth time that they meet in the first round. The first time Cal and Santa Clara met in the postseason was in 2000 when they faced off in the second round.
 
Cal and Santa Clara played a nonconference matchup in Santa Clara on Sept. 11 and the Bears blanked the Broncos, 1-0. It was one of nine clean sheets that Cal would collect in the 2022 regular season, and one of six for Cal keeper Angelina Anderson. Anysa Gray scored the game-winner in the 28th minute, assisted by Karlie Lema.
 
The Bears' regular season concluded with a five-game unbeaten streak after they tied No. 7 Stanford 1-1 in the finale. Lema scored the equalizer to lift Cal to the draw, her fifth goal of the season.
 
Cal enters the postseason with a 10-4-6 overall record and a 5-3-3 final record in conference-play. The Bears finished in fourth place in the final Pac-12 standings, their first time breaking into the top-four since 2015. The team also boasts three All-Pac-12 Second Team honorees in Sydney Collins, Keely Roy and Ayo Oke.

WE MEET AGAIN
The first round of the 2022 NCAA Championship will be the seventh time the Bears and the Broncos meet in the postseason, and their third consecutive matchup in the first round. Out of the seven matches, the last six have all been first round games. The first time the two teams met in the postseason was in 2000 in the second round of the tournament.
 
SEASON HONORS ROUNDUP
Three Golden Bears - Sydney Collins, Keely Roy and Ayo Oke - were named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team in 2022. The three led Cal to a fourth-place finish in the Pac-12, the program's first time breaking into the top-four since 2015.
 
Earlier in the season, three Bears were also honored with Pac-12 conference weekly awards. On Sept. 12, Cal keeper Angelina Anderson won Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week and Collins was awarded Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. Collins received the same honor for a second time just one week later on Sept. 19.
 
Roy also earned a weekly award, taking Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 10.  That same week, she was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week and to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
 
STANDOUT SEASON
Keely Roy started the 2022 season on fire, scoring a brace in Cal's win over UC San Diego. It was the first time in nearly three years that a Bear has had a multi-goal game, with the last one coming on September 6, 2019 when Emma Westin scored twice against USD. It was Roy's first of three matches in which she scored a brace this season.
 
Roy now has 11 total goals scored this season, ranking her second in the conference, and she is 5-for-6 on penalty kick conversions this season.
 
MANRIQUE LEADS HOT WEEK
Ari Manrique had her best week in a Cal shirt when the sophomore scored in games against UNLV and Penn to wrap up nonconference play. She also tallied an assist vs. Penn to score five points on the week, outscoring her point total from the entire 2021 season. Manrique's play contributed to Cal scoring a team-best five goals over two games.
 
STIFLING DEFENSE
Cal has had one of the best defenses in the country so far this season. The Bears have allowed only 60 shots on goal this season, just three shots on target per game. Cal has allowed more than one goal in only two games this year and has posted six shutouts, including four in a row during one stretch. The Bears have only given up 16 goals in 20 games. 
 
A-PLUS ANGIE
Angelina Anderson is now fifth on Cal's all-time saves list with 238 in her career. Anderson also has 26 career shutouts, plus three more combined shutouts, and is second on the school's all-time shutouts list after recording shutouts vs. Saint Mary's, Cal State Fullerton, Santa Clara, Arizona, Oregon State, Colorado and Utah.
 
Anderson was named National Freshman of the Year in 2019 as well as Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She was the first player to win both Freshman of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year in the conference. She earned second-team All-Pac-12 in 2020-21 and third team honors in 2021 as she's proven to be one of the top shot stoppers in the nation.
 
RETURNING PRODUCTION
The Bears bring back the majority of the team that played during the 2021 season. The squad finished the season with a three-win improvement from the previous season.
 
For the 2022 season, 30 players from last year's team return and only five players that saw minutes last year departed. Cal returns 149 starts from last year's team. Cal also brings back 14 of the 15 players that recorded points last year including 17 of the 18 goals and all 17 assists.
 
The Bears return student-athletes who have combined for 352 starts and 626 games played in their Cal careers heading into the 2022 season.
 
U20 WORLD CUP STANDOUTS
Cal sophomore Ayo Oke and freshman Teagan Wy competed with Team USA at the U20 World Cup in August. The duo was selected for the team after playing with the national team at numerous age groups and impressing throughout the spring.
 
Oke played in two matches for the United States while Wy served as a backup goalkeeper.
 
BEARS MAKE BIG ADDITIONS
Cal added three players to the roster for the 2022 season. Cal's lone freshman is goalkeeper Teagan Wy, who has been with USYNT at 11 different camps and tournaments and was rated as the 18th-best prospect in the class of 2022. She helped the USA to the 2018 CONCACAF Championship as the starting goalkeeper.
 
The Bears also add a familiar face in Kailee Gifford. Gifford spent four seasons at Cal, playing in 50 games and making 31 starts as a defender. She transferred to Pepperdine last year and started in all 10 games before getting hurt. She returns to Cal to use her final year of eligibility in 2022.
 
The Bears also add Mya Daily to the team in 2022 as a transfer from Long Beach State. Daily started at center back for the Beach, helping them lead the Big-West in goals against average and being named to the All-Big West freshman team.
 
NO. 1 RECRUITING CLASS MAKES GOOD
The Bears signed the top-ranked recruiting class in the country according to TopDrawerSoccer in 2021. The group of 12 players are in their second year in the program after some standout performances as freshmen.
 
Noelle Bond-Flasza, Cailin Bloom, Courtney Boone, Maya Griffin, Velize King, Kei Kitamura, Karlie Lema, Ari Manrique, Aasha McLyn, Ayo Oke, Aaliyah Schinaman, Alexis Wright and Jordyn Young make up the class.
 
Three of the Bears' top four scorers in 2021 were freshman: Karlie Lema (6 goals, 12 points) led the team while Ari Manrique (1 goal, 4 points), Jordyn Young (1 goal, 3 points) and Ayo Oke (1 goal, 3 points) also had an immediate impact.
 
Noelle Bond-Flasza (16 games), Courtney Boone (8 starts, Pac-12 Defender of the Week), Maya Griffin, Alexis Wright (2 assists) and Velize King have all seen time.
 
Oke, Bond-Flasza and Wright impressed enough to be called up to their respective National Teams for the CONCACAF U20 Championship in 2022.
 
Of the 12 recruits, 11 were ranked in the Top-200, including No. 25 Oke, No. 28 Manrique, and No. 36 Lema. TopDrawerSoccer gave nine recruits a four-star rating, with two rated as three-star athletes. Seven athletes have national team experience.
 
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