Bears Trek To City Of Roses

Buoyed by its big road win from last week, the California men's soccer team plays another road game in a nonconference match at Portland on Friday at 7 p.m. PT. The Golden Bears improved their record to 4-5-2 when they upset then-No. 1 Pitt 1-0 last Friday in Pennsylvania.

Here are the details for this week's game:

At Portland (2-4-6)
When: Friday, Oct. 18, 7 p.m. PT
Where: Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex, Portland, Ore.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

The game is being broadcast on ESPN+ via the ESPN App. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming channel that can also be viewed on any streaming device.

Cal Upsets No. 1 Pitt
Nonso Adimabua scored a first-half goal and Marco Brougher made seven clutch saves to power Cal to a 1-0 upset of then-No. 1 Pittsburgh and the Golden Bears' first ACC victory on Oct. 11 at Ambrose Urbanic Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Bears also handed Pitt its first ACC loss and first home loss of the season.

Adimabua, a fifth-year senior forward, pounced on a defensive miscue in the Panthers' box to score in the 21st minute. Brougher, a junior goalkeeper, made a crucial 80th-minute save of a Panthers' penalty kick taken by their leading scorer, Luis Sahmkow, to preserve the shutout win. The night included Wyatt Meyer's 2024 debut. The senior co-captain and 2023 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year – who missed action this season due to injury – entered the game in the first half and played 28 minutes. Meyer took the Bears' last shot, forcing a save out of Pitt goalkeeper Cabral Carter in the 81st minute.

Adimabua, Brougher Named ACC Players of the Week
After leading Cal to its upset of Pitt and its first ACC victory, forward Nonso Adimabua was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week and goalkeeper Marco Brougher was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. Brougher was also named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week for his performance against the Panthers.

These are the first ACC weekly honors for Cal in men's soccer.

The goal sequence began when the Panthers played the ball back to their goalkeeper, Cabral Carter, deep in their box. With Cal forward Arik Duncan pressuring him, Carter passed the ball to a Pitt field player. The Panther took a bad touch in the box to leave the ball in the path of the onrushing Adimabua, who slammed the ball into the net from 14 yards out. Adimabua is now tied with Duncan for team highs in points (8) and goals (3).

Brougher made a career-best seven saves, including the stop of Luis Sahmkow's penalty kick. The Panthers' leading scorer had previously made two of two penalty kicks this season. But the Cal goalie made a diving save of the spot kick and two minutes later saved an Eben McIntyre shot in what was Pitt's last chance of the game to earn his third shutout of 2024.

Scouting Cal

Cal has a 6-4-2 record in the all-time series with Portland
Junior goalkeeper Marco Brougher, who's started all 11 games, leads the ACC outright in three categories, is tied for the lead in one category and ranks in the top 10 in eight overall categories
The goalkeeper leads the ACC in saves (41), saves per game (3.73) and shutouts combined per game (0.09), and he's tied for the lead in shutouts combined (1)
Brougher is also third in save percentage (0.759), sixth in shutouts per game (0.27), tied for sixth in shutouts (3) and ninth in goals-against average (1.23)
Senior forwards Nonso Adimabua and Arik Duncan are tied for the Cal lead in points (8) and goals (3)
Freshman forward Malcolm Zalayet leads the Bears in assists (3)
Adimabua, Zalayet, sophomore midfielder Justin Knighton and sophomore defender Giancarlo Mota have each scored one game-winning goal
Adimabua, a member of the All-Pac-12 Second-Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Third Team last year, is playing in his fifth season, with his career including two previous years at Cal (2022, 2023) and two seasons at San Francisco (spring 2021, fall 2021)
Cal head coach Leonard Griffin coached Adimabua in the spring of 2021 when both were at San Francisco
Cal's 5-0 rout of Dominican on Sept. 16 in Berkeley was the only game so far in which any Bear besides Brougher played in goal this season (Thomas Grimes and Ryan Savoie)
Senior defender Kevin Carmichael and senior midfielder/defender Wyatt Meyer – both All-Pac-12 First-Team selections last season and both draft picks by Nashville SC in the MLS SuperDraft last December – are co-captains in their final season at Cal
Carmichael, who was chosen to the ACC Preseason Watch List, was profiled in Seizing The Opportunity, a Cal Sports Quarterly magazine feature
Meyer – the 2023 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Second Team – was named to the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch List for defenders and garnered a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI Team this fall
Leonard Griffin – who won the NCAA championship as a UCLA player in 2002 – was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year last season and is in his third year as head coach of the Golden Bears
A former professional player who was drafted No. 11 overall by the Chicago Fire in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Griffin made MLS stops in Portland, Oregon, in Columbus, Ohio, and in Los Angeles with the Galaxy
The Cal coaching staff includes alumnus and long-time assistant coach Henry Foulk, who has mentored numerous Bears who've played professionally including current pros Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC, MLS), Drake Callender (Inter Miami CF, MLS), David Bingham (Charlotte FC, MLS) and Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena FC, Italy Serie C)

Scouting Portland

The Pilots beat Cal 2-0 in 2023 in Berkeley in the teams' last meeting
In its two most recent games, Portland tied Pacific 2-2 on Oct. 9 in Stockton and tied USF 1-1 on Sunday in San Francisco
Forward Nicholas Dunbar leads Portland in goals (3) and points (8)
Midfielder Sebastian Nava, forward Diego Rosas and forward Wylie Trujillo pace the Pilots in assists (3 each)
Goalkeeper Kash Oladapo has compiled a 1.38 GAA and 0.718 save percentage in eight starts, including the tie with the Dons
Goalkeeper Miguel-Angel Hernandez has a 1.82 GAA and 0.667 save percentage in four starts, including the draw with the Tigers
Nick Fernandez – who has one goal, one assist and three points this season – was named a 2024 United Soccer Coaches Midfielder to Watch
In 2023, Fernandez was a United Soccer Coaches Third-Team All-American, the WCC Midfielder of the Year and an All-WCC First-Team selection
Fernandez, Nava and forward Buba Fofanah – who was chosen by the Seattle Sounders in the MLS SuperDraft in December – were named to the 2024 All-WCC Preseason Team
Nick Carlin-Voigt is in his ninth season as head coach of Portland
The Pilots' staff includes assistant coach Ben Simon, who previously worked as a High-Performance Coordinator for the Golden Bears

Next Time
Cal returns to Berkeley for its final two home games of the regular season, with the Bears hosting Saint Mary's in a nonconference game on Oct. 22 and hosting Notre Dame on Oct. 27. Prior to the game against the Irish, Cal will honor its graduating seniors in its Senior Day ceremony.

Stay Posted
For more coverage of the Cal men's soccer team, please follow the Bears on X (@CalMSoc), Instagram (@CalMSoc) and Facebook (/CalMSoc).

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Players Mentioned

Nonso Adimabua

Marco Brougher

Kevin Carmichael

Arik Duncan

Thomas Grimes

Justin Knighton

Wyatt Meyer

Giancarlo Mota

Ryan Savoie

Malcolm Zalayet

California Golden Bears Athletics