BERKELEY – The California women's soccer team earned its 11th win of the season Sunday afternoon defeating visiting SMU 3-2 on Senior Day.
The Golden Bears (11-5-2, 4-4-1) won the possession battle and took a season-high 26 shots to secure three crucial points in the ACC standings. Cal now sits in eighth place with 13 points and has a chance to finish the regular season tied with rival Stanford if it can come away with a win in Thursday's regular-season finale with the Cardinal.
After 42 and half minutes of scoreless soccer the Bears captured some momentum with a true highlight goal just before the end of the half. In the 43rd minute junior
Alex Klos chased down a ball by the right corner and fired a cross deep to the back post where
Kenley Whittaker was waiting. The freshman rose to meet the ball and fired in a header to collect her first collegiate goal and put her team out in front. It was the first of two assists on the day for Klos.
The Mustangs (6-9-2, 2-6-2), who wrapped up their regular season today, responded early in the second half with an equalizer from Eliana Salama in the 48th minute.
Senior
Velize King found the net next with an impressive individual effort in the 51st minute as the forward took as much real estate and she could until she was met by a Mustang defender in the penalty area. After deking back towards the middle King drilled the ball with her left foot and snuck it in between the near post and diving SMU goalkeeper Sierra Cota-Yarde. King is now tied for second on the team with three goals and 10 points.
Just as she did early in the half, Salama kept her Mustangs alive with another equalizer in the 59th minute to make it a 2-2 contest.
The fifth and final goal of this exciting, back-and-forth 22-minute stretch came off the boot of senior
Karlie Lema. Klos played a ball into senior
Alexis Wright who dribbled towards the SMU endline. Wright then centered it for a cutting Lema, who flicked in her 16
th goal of the season. It was the 11
th game-winner of Lema's career who now sits alone in fourth on Cal's single-season scoring list and is tied for second most in the country. Lema's 31 career goals are now tied for sixth on the all-time scoring list and her 38 points have moved her past Alex Morgan for fifth most in a single season.
Teagan Wy made her first start since Oct. 13 and went the full 90 minutes to pick up fourth win of the season.
The Bears will now turn their sights to Thursday's regular-season finale at No. 12 Stanford. The match is set for 7 p.m. PT on ACCNX and ESPN+.
