ANNAPOLIS, Md. – California rugby took its first loss of the season against top-ranked U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday afternoon. In the cold and windy conditions of the East Coast, the Golden Bears scored four tries to the Midshipmen's five in their first road match since January.
 
"Congratulations to Navy on their victory," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "We're disappointed we didn't play better, but give Navy some credit for that, along with, I suppose, how green we are. It's a good stretch of matches to build our team."
 
The Bears lit up the scoreboard first when prop Charlie Walsh carried in the ball from the wing. Co-captain fullback Max Schumacher added the extras to make it 7-0 in the 13th minute. Navy responded with an unconverted try in minute 21 and then added another try and conversion five minutes later to take the lead.
 
The Bears were a man down at minute 31, but freshman center Max Threlkeld still made his way across the tryline in the 39th minute for his ninth try of the season. Schumacher successfully made the conversion attempt to give the Bears a 14-12 advantage at the break.
 
The beginning of the second half mimicked the first with no scoring by either side for the first 12 minutes. Navy put three converted tries on the board to take back the lead.
 
The Bears bounced back in the final 10 minutes, controlling possession and scoring twice more while denying the Midshipmen any more points for the remainder of the match. Junior wing Evan Weigold found space down the left sideline and ran a score in at the 70th minute and Schumacher converted. Navy attempted to add three more points from a penalty kick four minutes later but was unsuccessful.
 
In minute 76, freshman center Rand Santos carried a ball in right between the goalposts to close the gap. Schumacher added the extras to record a perfect 4-for-4 day on conversion kicks, but the Midshipmen outlasted the Bears to take a 33-28 victory in the end.  
 
The Bears now return to Berkeley for a bye week before taking on Saint Mary's in Moraga on March 25.
 
Scoring Timeline:
Cal vs Navy
13:00 – Walsh 5, Schumacher 2
21:00 – Navy 5
26:00 – Navy 5, Navy 2
39:00 – Threlkeld 5, Schumacher 2
Half: Cal 14, Navy 12
52:00 – Navy 5, Navy 2
59:00 – Navy 5, Navy 2
65:00 – Navy 5, Navy 2
70:00 – Weigold 5, Schumacher 2
76:00 – Santos 5, Schumacher 2
Final: Cal 28, Navy 33
 
Starting XV:
1. Emilio Shea 2. Cade Crist 3. Charlie Walsh 4. Tom Dixon 5. Ryan Marshall 6. Luke Freeman 7. Cal Liebowitz 8. Alex Aguero 9. Caleb Tomasin 10. Kealan O'Connell 11. Evan Weigold 12. Rand Santos 13. Max Threlkeld 14. Oliver Newall 15. Max Schumacher
 
Substitutions:
68:00 – Pat Deely, Matt Vranesh, Jon Puckett
73:00 – Solomon Williams
 
STAY POSTED 
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, please follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby).