Saturday, January 28
Isla Vista, CA
TBD
California
at
UC Santa Barbara
Cal and UCSB meet for a contest Saturday in Goleta.
Photo by: RudyPics
1/27/2023 9:11 AM | Rugby
Cal Travels To UCSB For Saturday Afternoon Contest
BERKELEY – California rugby hits the road for an afternoon matchup with UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. PT at Harder Stadium in Goleta.
"It has been awhile since we've had a Santa Barbara visit," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "Same day travel aside, it will be a good experience for our boys."
The Bears enter the weekend following their 79-3 win over Santa Clara last week at Witter Rugby Field. Cal was represented by a mostly frosh-soph squad, with 13 underclassmen featured in the starting 15-man lineup. Four student-athletes had multi-score days with Joe Kirsten, Max Threlkeld, J.P. Vinter and Dom Paga each scoring a brace of tries and flyhalf Kealan O'Connell going 7-for-8 on conversions. Michál De Beer came in from the reserves to make his Cal debut and contributed a late try to earn his first collegiate points.
Cal and UCSB last met for 15-a-side play at the Dennis Storer Classic in Los Angeles on Jan. 14. The Bears claimed their first of three victories in the tournament with a 35-0 win over the Gauchos. Cal tallied five tries, including a pair from Luke Freeman, and O'Connell and Cormac Saint combined to add the extras on all of the scores. The two teams also met in Oct. 2022 for a matchup at the West Coast Collegiate 7s on Treasure Island. The Bears rolled past the Gauchos 52-0 on their way to the tournament title.
Cal will feature an experienced lineup this Saturday. Junior prop Emilio Shea will wear the No. 1 shirt in the front row, a position in which he has made eight starts in his collegiate career.
Senior Alex Aguero will be the No. 8, a new position to him this season after playing as a center in previous years. He started as the eight man versus UCLA at the Storer Classic and contributed a try in the Bears' 45-0 win. Aguero also had a strong sevens campaign as one of Cal's top scorers and was named tournament MVP at the West Coast Collegiate 7s at Cal Poly.
Fellow senior Cal Liebowitz will earn a call up to the first 15 this weekend as a flanker after primarily playing as a reserve replacement in 2022. This year, Liebowitz started and captained the squad that faced UCSB at the Storer Classic.
In a familiar setup in the backline, Max Clark will play the left wing and Alex Brundage will be his opposite with co-captain Max Schumacher as the fullback. The same trio started against the Bruins at the Storer Classic – Clark logged a try while Schumacher went 4-for-5 on conversion attempts in the contest.
UCSB sports a 2-2 record in 2023 XVs competition thus far. The Gauchos took a close 17-12 win over UC Santa Cruz at the Storer Classic and fell to UCLA and Cal at the same tournament. Most recently, UCSB is coming off a 44-19 win over Stanford last week on The Farm.
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby).
"It has been awhile since we've had a Santa Barbara visit," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "Same day travel aside, it will be a good experience for our boys."
The Bears enter the weekend following their 79-3 win over Santa Clara last week at Witter Rugby Field. Cal was represented by a mostly frosh-soph squad, with 13 underclassmen featured in the starting 15-man lineup. Four student-athletes had multi-score days with Joe Kirsten, Max Threlkeld, J.P. Vinter and Dom Paga each scoring a brace of tries and flyhalf Kealan O'Connell going 7-for-8 on conversions. Michál De Beer came in from the reserves to make his Cal debut and contributed a late try to earn his first collegiate points.
Cal and UCSB last met for 15-a-side play at the Dennis Storer Classic in Los Angeles on Jan. 14. The Bears claimed their first of three victories in the tournament with a 35-0 win over the Gauchos. Cal tallied five tries, including a pair from Luke Freeman, and O'Connell and Cormac Saint combined to add the extras on all of the scores. The two teams also met in Oct. 2022 for a matchup at the West Coast Collegiate 7s on Treasure Island. The Bears rolled past the Gauchos 52-0 on their way to the tournament title.
Cal will feature an experienced lineup this Saturday. Junior prop Emilio Shea will wear the No. 1 shirt in the front row, a position in which he has made eight starts in his collegiate career.
Senior Alex Aguero will be the No. 8, a new position to him this season after playing as a center in previous years. He started as the eight man versus UCLA at the Storer Classic and contributed a try in the Bears' 45-0 win. Aguero also had a strong sevens campaign as one of Cal's top scorers and was named tournament MVP at the West Coast Collegiate 7s at Cal Poly.
Fellow senior Cal Liebowitz will earn a call up to the first 15 this weekend as a flanker after primarily playing as a reserve replacement in 2022. This year, Liebowitz started and captained the squad that faced UCSB at the Storer Classic.
In a familiar setup in the backline, Max Clark will play the left wing and Alex Brundage will be his opposite with co-captain Max Schumacher as the fullback. The same trio started against the Bruins at the Storer Classic – Clark logged a try while Schumacher went 4-for-5 on conversion attempts in the contest.
UCSB sports a 2-2 record in 2023 XVs competition thus far. The Gauchos took a close 17-12 win over UC Santa Cruz at the Storer Classic and fell to UCLA and Cal at the same tournament. Most recently, UCSB is coming off a 44-19 win over Stanford last week on The Farm.
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby).
Players Mentioned
No. 8
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Fullback/Wing
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Wing/Scrumhalf
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No. 8
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Fullback/Wing
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Flanker
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Flyhalf
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Flanker
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Scrumhalf
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Fullback/Center
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Prop
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Center
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Prop/Hooker
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