The California women's soccer team (10-5-2, 3-4-1) is set for its final regular season home contest this Sunday as the Godlen Bears welcome SMU to Edwards Stadium. Before the match, the 17 members of the class of 2025 will be honored with a Senior Day ceremony.

Match Information
SMU (6-8-2, 2-5-2)
·       Date and Time: Sunday, Oct. 27, 12 p.m. PT
·       Location: Berkeley, CA - Edwards Stadium
·       Live Stream: ACCNX
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast

Last Week
The Bears are coming off a pair of road losses and are currently on their longest skid of the season at four matches. Cal put up a pair of goals on No. 7 Notre Dame but could not stop the Fighting Irish offense, which netted five goals of its own. The Bears then went on to visit Louisville for the two programs' first meeting and fell 2-1 to the host Cardinals after being shut out in the second half for just the third time this season. 

ACC Championship Picture
With just under a week to go in the regular season the ACC Championship picture is beginning to form. After failing to come away with any points in their final East Coast road trip, the Bears are on the outside looking in, sitting in ninth place with 10 points. With Notre Dame, Florida State and Stanford all tied for fifth place at 16 points, Cal will need to win both of its final two matches and receive some help from the programs ahead of them.

The Lema Legend
Senior forward Karlie Lema ranks third in the country with 145goals and second with 36 points. She also ranks second in the nation in points per game (2.12) and third in goals per game (0.88). All those marks are good for first in the ACC. So far this season Lema has a hat trick, four braces, three equalizers and three game-winners. On Sep. 8 she broke into the program's top-10 scoring list and now sits in seventh place with 30 career goals. It took her all of six matches to tie her season-high goal total of six set during her freshman season, and two matches later she had nearly doubled that total.

Lema's 15 goals tie Brandi Chastain, Tucka Healy and Laura Schott for the fourth-most in a single season in Cal history. Lema's 34 points trail Alex Morgan's single-season best of 36, which is good for fifth in the Bears' record book.

Give It A Chance
Cal has one of the top offenses in the country, ranking 23rd with 37 total goals, a mark that is also good for fifth in the ACC. Much of this offensive success can be attributed to the fact that the Bears put over half of their attempts on frame, leading the conference and ranking 30th in the nation with a .517 shot on goal percentage. On the individual side, Lema ranks third in the conference in that category, giving .627 of her shots a scoring chance, and ranks seventh in the nation with 2.47 SOG per game. The Bears, who have only been shut out once this season, have 10 multi-goal performances and boast a 9-1-1 record in those matches. 

Second-Half Surge
This season Cal has done the bulk of its scoring in the second half with 27 of its 37 goals coming in the final 45 minutes. The Bears currently hold a 27-13 second-half goal differential and have only been shut out three times in the period. Twelve goals have been scored in the 75th minute or later and on four occasions the Bears have come back from a goal or two down to earn a result in dramatic fashion.

A Warm Welcome
Cal's first week of ACC play will be one to remember as the Bears came back from down a goal to North Carolina State to win it 3-1 and came back from down two goals to tie then-No. 13 Wake Forest. Senior forward Karlie Lema powered the Bears to a win in their first ACC match, collecting a brace and an assist versus the Wolfpack. Lema assisted on the equalizer before scoring the game-winner and an insurance goal within a span of a minute and 19 seconds. The Demon Deacons, who had defeated No. 2 Virginia and No. 1 Stanford in their previous two matches, scored two first-half goals and had a 2-0 lead up until the 79th minute, when senior defender Courtney Boone scored off a corner kick assist from graduate-transfer Julia Leontini. Freshman midfielder Campbell Carroll found the perfect time to score her first collegiate goal, hitting the equalizer in the 85th minute to help the Bears earn a result.

Wy Takes Home Bronze At U20 FIFA Women's World Cup
Cal keeper Teagan Wy and the USA National Team took home the bronze medal at the FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating The Netherlands 2-1 on Sept. 21 in Bogota, Colombia. After falling to eventual champion Korea DPR in the semifinals, Wy and the Americans bounced back to take home some hardware. After serving as the backup goalkeeper during the 2022 FIFA Women's World Cup, Wy took over the starting gig this time around and had her presence felt, making several big saves in multiple matches. She collected a walk-off save during the shootout with Germany to push the US through to the semifinals and made two one-on-one saves in the final 15 minutes of the bronze-medal match.

Lema Named National, Conference Player Of The Week
After an incredible five-goal, one assist week, Lema took home NCAA National Player of the Week, Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Week and ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors Sept. 11. The senior forward earned her first hat trick in the Bears' 4-1 win over Nevada and added two goals and an assist in Cal's 3-0 shutout of San Diego. She ended the week with a .385 shot percentage and a .769 shots on goal percentage. This was the first national recognition for Lema, who also became the first Bear to take home an ACC weekly honor.

End Of An Era
Alex Morgan - one of the game's greatest players and one of Cal's most successful alumnae - played her final professional match on Sept. 8. Morgan has had an immense influence on the sport and has helped grow the game for over 15 years. She retires as one of the greatest scorers in US Women's National Team history, ranking fifth with 123 goals on the international stage. Her trophy case includes two FIFA World Cup titles, an Olympic gold and bronze medal, a WPS Championship and an NWSL Championship. In her four seasons as a Golden Bear, she tallied 45 goals, which is good for third on the all-time scoring list. She was named a Soccer America MVP in 2010 and took home United Soccer Coaches All-America honors that year as well. In 2011 she was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the WPS draft, marking the first top draft prospect for the Bears.

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