BERKELEY – The California field hockey team opens the 2023 campaign on Friday when Miami Ohio comes to Underhill Field. The Golden Bears will play three games in four days, taking on Maryland on Sunday and Rutgers on Monday. All three games will feature live stats. The game against Rutgers will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
GAME 1 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Aug. 25, 2022 – 2 p.m. PT   
Opponent: Miami Ohio Redhawks
Site: Underhill Field (Berkeley, Calif.)
Live Video: Cal Livestream
Live Stats: Statbroadcast.com
 
GAME 2 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Aug. 27, 2022 – Noon PT   
Opponent: #3 Maryland Terrapins
Site: Underhill Field (Berkeley, Calif.)
Live Video: Cal Livestream
Live Stats: Statbroadcast.com
 
GAME 3 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Aug. 28, 2022 – 1 p.m. PT   
Opponent: #16 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Site: Underhill Field (Berkeley, Calif.)
TV: Pac-12 Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast.com
 
 
AT A GLANCE

• The Bears begin the year with four straight games at Underhill Field. Cal has just six home games this season. Also coming to Berkeley this year: Penn State (Sep. 1), Stanford (Sep. 29) and UC Davis (Oct. 21).
• Tough Opening Act: Cal is scheduled to face four teams currently in the NFCA Coaches' Top-20 Poll – two of them in the opening weekend. Maryland checks in at No. 3 in the preseason poll while Rutgers is No. 16.
• First Time For Everything: For the first time in her 29-year career, Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead, will start an entire lineup of foreign players. Cal has 14 international players this year.
• From The Netherlands To Berkeley: There are five players from the Netherlands on the squad this year. Kiki de Bruijne (Noordwijk), Anjana Pioch (Groningen), Bente Baekers (Rijswijk), Merel Hanssen (Maastricht) and Cato Geusgens (Wassenaar).   
• Goal Scoring Machine: Graduate transfer Bente Baekers joins the Bears after a stellar career at Northwestern. Her 86 career goals are the most by an active player in the NCAA, and her 197 career points are also tops among all returning players.
• Assault On The History Books: With 14 more goals Baekers will become just the 14th player in NCAA history to score 100 or more goals.  She needs just three points to become the 27th player in NCAA history to record 200 or more points, and in doing so she would join former Golden Bear Valentina Godfrid (2003-06) as the only two players from Cal on that history list.

 
ABOUT THE REDHAWKS
Miami is coming off a successful 2022 season in which the Redhawks went 14-8 including 6-1 in the MAC en route to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, in which they lost to eventual runner-up Northwestern in the second round. To repeat its success from last year, Miami is going to have to rely on its top returning goal scorers from last year, Paul Pena Martinez and Claudia Negrete Garcia. The duo from Spain both scored 16 goals apiece last season. Miami will also rely on All-American goalkeeper Isabelle Perse.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will be the sixth time the Bears and Redhawks have tangled. Miami owns a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1996. In Berkeley, Cal is 1-1 against Miami with the Bears' lone win coming on Sep. 2, 2018. Last season, Cal lost 3-1 to Miami in the 2022 debut in Oxford, Ohio.  
 
ABOUT THE TERRAPINS
Maryland enters this week ranked No. 3 in the NFHCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Terrapins are coming off a 2022 season that saw them go 19-4 and advance to the NCAA semifinals, in which they lost to eventual runner-up Northwestern. The team's leading scorer from last season, Hope Rose, is back for her junior season. Rose finished the year with 36 points on 14 goals and eight assists.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday will be the 12th meeting between the two teams. Maryland owns an 11-0 advantage in the series that dates back to Oct. 15, 1989. This will be the fourth trip to Berkeley for the Terrapins, the last coming in 2018. The last time these two teams faced each other was on Sept. 12, 2021, with No. 7 Maryland coming away with a 4-0 win.  
 
ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers enters 2023 with optimism. The Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 16 in the NFHCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. They return 83 percent of their goal scoring from last season, including its top-two scorers in third-team All-American Irish Langejans and sophomore Indy van Ek. Stalwart keeper Sophia Howard is back for Rutgers. In 2022 she played every minute and finished with a 1.95 goals-against average.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Monday will be the fifth meeting between Cal and Rutgers and the first since 2002. The series, which dates back to 1989, is knotted at 2-2. In California, Cal is 2-1 against Rutgers. Last time out, Cal defeated the visitors 3-0 in the season opener down at Stanford on Sept. 1, 2002.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will play the last of its season-long four-game homestand next Friday when No. 5 Penn State comes to Berkeley. The Bears and Nittany Lions will kick off at 4:00 p.m. PT. Friday's game will be streamed live on the Cal Live Stream. Fans can also follow the action via live stats at Statbroadcast.com.
 
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