STANFORD – The California men's soccer team took a first-half lead over No. 22 Stanford - thanks to defender Wyatt Meyer's first goal since 2021 – in the regular-season finale Saturday night on The Farm. But the Cardinal scored twice in the second half, netting the game-winning goal in the dying minutes, and the Golden Bears fell 2-1.


Cal, which more than doubled its win total of 2022, ended the regular season with a 7-6-5 record (3-4-3 Pac-12). Stanford – which ended the regular season at 9-3-5 (3-2-5 Pac-12) – snapped the Bears' three-game unbeaten streak that began with a 1-1 draw with the Cardinal on Oct. 29 in Berkeley.
 
The Bears now await the results of the NCAA Selection Show, slated for Monday at 10 a.m. PT on NCAA.com, to find out if they will play in the postseason.
 
Meyer put the Bears ahead in the 36th minute with his first goal since 2021. The scoring play began with a free kick about 30 yards from goal that Evan Davila lofted into the box. The ball wound up at the feet of the Cal captain, who slotted it past goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly.
 
"It just kind of fell to me, and I think I took it off my quad and just poked it in on frame," Meyer said. "It's kind of a scrappy goal, but you get what you get. It's tough, because it's my first goal in a long time, so I'm pretty happy about that. But it's a tough loss. Bittersweet."
 
Stanford got the equalizer in the 65th minute, when Dylan Hooper blasted a long-range shot into Cal's net.
 
With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Stanford took a long throw in deep in Cal's end. A Cal player and a Cardinal player went up for the ball, which ultimately fell to Mark Fisher, whose bicycle kick found the back of the net to stun the Bears.
 
"It's a gut punch for sure," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "I thought we did enough to get a result in the game, whether that's a win or a tie, in terms of how hard we competed and battled with a very good Stanford team. They scored two wonder goals on us, and at some point you kind of just have to sit back and say, 'What more can you do?' It's disappointing to say the least. I thought we had our chances to either go up or even the score, and we have to take advantage of those opportunities.
 
"Disappointing, but still very proud of the group for the season. There's still a good chance that we could play in the postseason. I think it's realistic that we could hear our name called Monday, so we're going to act as if that's going to be the case and prepare accordingly. I'm proud of the group, and we'll keep pushing forward."
 
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