STANFORD, Calif.– It was pandemonium on the farm Thursday night as the California women's soccer team defeated No. 14 Stanford in dramatic fashion to close out the regular season. The match was heading for a draw before Cal center back Courtney Boone scored on a penalty kick rebound with under 10 seconds to go to give the Golden Bears the 3-2 victory at Cagan Stadium.
 
The Golden Bears (12-5-2, 5-4-1) earned their first win over the rival Cardinal (13-4-1, 5-4-1) since 2021 and finished their inaugural ACC season in seventh place with an above .500 record. Cal's 12 wins this season are the most since 2019.
 
The first ACC meeting between the two longtime rivals went just as expected. A highly physical, competitive match that featured several highlight plays and highly intense moments. Cal was the first to collect a highlight play and it came from freshman defender Campbell Carroll in the 34^th minute. Junior Alex Klos chased down a ball that was sent out of the Cardinal penalty area and played it back to Carroll who took one touch and fired a strike with her left foot from 30 yards out. The ball carried on a perfect trajectory and found the back of the net after rolling off the fingertips of Stanford goalkeeper Haley Craig.
 
It was Carroll's second career goal and the fourth assist of the season for Klos, who now is tied for third on the team with 10 points.
 
Cal doubled its lead in the 64^th minute with a perfectly executed goal by three veterans. It was the Stanford graduate Julia Leontini who got things going playing a ball into the 18-yard box for Velize King. The senior forward used her first touch to center a ball for fellow senior Alexis Wright who cut across the middle and rocketed in her fourth goal of the year. King and Leontini now rank second on the team with five assists and 11 points.
 
Just one minute and 42 seconds later Stanford got on the board via a penalty kick in the 66^th minute to cut the lead in half. Five minutes later in the 71st the Bears' lead had vanished with the Cardinal scoring a second goal.
 
The final 20 minutes saw both programs get a few chances at taking the lead but both defenses prevailed. Cal keeper Teagan Wy made key saves down the stretch earning four of her five saves in the second half.
 
Stanford took a deep shot with 47 seconds to go that was saved by Wy. After everybody cleared out, Wy booted a ball past the halfway line that Karlie Lema tracked down near the right corner with 20 seconds to go. The senior forward took her defender one-on-one before firing a bullet of a cross to Klos near the spot. Kloss cut to the ball but was taken down by a Cardinal defender granting Cal a penalty kick as the clock ticked down to 10 seconds.
 
Lema stepped to the penalty spot for her Bears and fired her shot to the right side of the net. Craig made a diving save to prevent the goal, but deflected it left. As soon as Lema made contact with the ball, Boone was off the line and headed towards the net where she found herself in a perfect position to deposit the rebound with just seven seconds to go in the match. The first game-winner of Boone's career came in the waning moments of her final regular season contest.
 
With Notre Dame winning earlier in the day, the Bears and the Cardinal were eliminated from ACC Championship contention, but will wait for the NCAA Selection Show on Nov. 11 to see if their season will continue.