BERKELEY – Cal rugby defeated UCLA 50-13 on Saturday afternoon, the team's 7th win of the spring season and Cal Head Coach Jack Clark's 700th career win in a 15-a-side contest.  
 
Clark holds more wins than any other head coach in Cal rugby's history, with 700 victories in XVs plus another 232 in sevens. 2022-23 marks his 40th year at the helm of the program, the longest reign of any Cal head coach in campus history. Read more about the Clark era of Cal rugby here.
 
On Saturday, the Bears faced off with the Bruins for a 15-a-side contest, the first PAC conference matchup for the Bears this season.  
 
"Credit to UCLA for a really strong performance," Clark said. "They were the best form of scrappy I've seen in a while. We had a high error count for which the Bruins should get some credit. Our team needs to stay at it, we are a ways from being our best."
 
The Bruins put points on the scoreboard first with an unconverted try, but the Bears answered back with a try of their own by freshman Max Threlkeld six minutes later. Max Schumacher converted the score to take a 7-5 lead. Ten minutes passed before the Bruins added another three points with a penalty kick.
 
Nathan Zylstra carried in a score six minutes later to extend Cal's advantage. Evan Weigold ran a ball in at minute 32 and Max Clark followed suit four minutes later. Schumacher added the extras on the latter of the scores and Cal secured a 24-8 lead at the intermission.
 
Freshman scrumhalf Solomon Williams kicked off the scoring in the second half for the Bears when he crossed the tryline at minute 55. Fellow freshman Rand Santos broke into the tryzone just five minutes later and Schumacher converted.
 
Sophomore Joe Kirsten came off the bench at the 65th minute and added to the scoreline only four minutes later with a try that Kealan O'Connell converted. Cal was down two players when UCLA scored its second try of the day at the 77th minute, but the Bears sealed the deal with a try by reserve-replacement Caleb Tomasin and another conversion by O'Connell in the final minute to hand the Bruins a 50-13 final score.
 
In the reserve-grade match that followed, the Bears bested the Bruins 124-0.
 
Cal continues the action at Witter Rugby Field next Saturday, Feb. 18th with a contest against the Utah Utes. Kickoff is 1 p.m. PT in Strawberry Canyon.
 
Scoring Timeline:
Cal vs UCLA
4:00 – UCLA 5
10:00 – Threlkeld 5, Schumacher 2
20:00 – UCLA 3
26:00 – Zylstra 5
32:00 – Weigold 5
36:00 – Clark 5, Schumacher 2
Half: Cal 24, UCLA 8
55:00 – Williams 5
60:00 – Santos 5, Schumacher 2
69:00 – Kirsten 5, O'Connell 2
77:00 – UCLA 5
80:00 – Tomasin 5, O'Connell 2
Final: Cal 50, UCLA 13
 
Starting XV:
1. Emilio Shea 2. Lance Hackett 3. Michael Puckett 4. Miles Malone 5. Tom Dixon 6. Luke Freeman 7. Nathan Zylstra 8. Alex Aguero 9. Solomon Williams 10. Nate Salter 11. Max Clark 12. Rand Santos 13. Max Threlkeld 14. Evan Weigold 15. Max Schumacher
 
Substitutions:
Half: Matt Vranesh, Josh Mao
55:00 – Kealan O'Connell, Cal Liebowitz
65:00 – Joe Kirsten
67:00 – Caleb Tomasin
70:00 – Clayton Seastrand
72:00 – Mack Fell
 
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