After a first-round win over No. 22 Pepperdine on Saturday, the No. 25 California women's soccer team (13-5-2) is headed to Fayetteville, Ark., for the second round of the NCAA Championship where the Golden Bears will face second-seeded and fifth-ranked Arkansas Friday on ESPN+.
 
Match Information
 
No. 5 Arkansas (15-2-2)
·       Date and Time: Friday, Nov. 22 – 4:30 p.m. PT
·       Location: Fayetteville, AR – Razorback Field
·       Live Stream: ESPN+
·       Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
 
Tickets
Tickets are available now on ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Both single match and all-session passes can be purchased.
 
Postseason History
This is the 28^th NCAA Championship appearance for the Bears and the 14th under head coach Neil McGuire. Cal has an all-time record of 16-24-4 in the tournament and will be searching for its first second-round win since it defeated UTEP in 2005.
 
Wave Breakers
The Bears are coming off a thrilling double-overtime 2-1 win over No. 22 Pepperdine in Malibu last Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Championship. Cal got a golden goal in the 106th minute from senior center back Courtney Boone that pushed the Bears through to the second round for the first time in exactly 10 years and one day. Graduate student Julia Leontini served the ball in on a corner kick for Boone, who missed her header attempt but managed to deflect the ball off the back of her leg and into the net for the walk-off victory. Senior forward Alexis Wright scored the first goal of the match in the 33^rd minute; Leontini assisted on that score as well. The last time the Bears won a first-round match on the road was in 2012 against the same Pepperdine program.
 
Razorback Recon
The Razorbacks come into the weekend with a 15-2-2 overall record, having only lost one regular-season contest to No. 7 Mississippi State and an SEC Championship semifinal matchup to eventual champion No. 21 Texas. Arkansas' explosive offense leads the nation in several categories, including goals per game (3.63), points per game (11.16), shots on goal per game (12.00), goal differential (56), and corner kicks per game (8.58). The host Hogs, who finished second in the SEC regular season standings, are coming off a 4-0 first-round win over Oklahoma State, scoring all four goals in the first half.
 
The Lema Legend
Earlier this month, senior forward Karlie Lema was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-ACC. She became the first Bear to win a major postseason award since Angelina Anderson took home the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2019 to and the first field player to earn top honors since Arielle Ship was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2015.
 
Lema ranked fourth in the country with 16 goals and second with 38 points during the regular season. She also ranked fourth in the nation in points per game (2.00). All those marks were good for first in the ACC. This season, Lema has a hat trick, four braces, three equalizers and four game-winners. She broke into the program's top-10 career scoring list on Sept. 8 and now sits tied for sixth place with 31 career goals. It took her all of six matches to tie her previous season-best goal total of six set during her freshman season, and two matches later she had nearly doubled that total.
 
Lema's 16 goals are good for the fourth-most in a single season in Cal history and are the most scored by a Bear since 2000. She passed Alex Morgan for fifth on the single-season points list on Oct. 27 with her 38th point.
 
That's Wy
Junior goalkeeper Teagan Wy was named Second Team All-ACC this season despite missing a handful of matches to participate in the 2024 U20 FIFA World Cup. Wy served as Team USA's starting keeper for the entire tournament and helped bring home a bronze medal, making key plays down the stretch -  including a walk-off PK save that put the Americans into the semifinals.
 
For the Bears, Wy showed up big when the lights were brightest, making a career-high nine saves vs. No. 3 North Carolina, including a PK save with just 11 seconds to go. She picked up her first shutout of the season vs. No. 16 Pitt, making five saves in the win, and added five more saves in 56 scoreless minutes against No. 1 Duke before leaving the match with an injury.
 
The Rancho Santa Margarita native ranked in the top 10 of the ACC with a .788 save percentage and 1.14 goals against average for the regular season. In ACC play, Wy ranked fourth with a .794 save percentage, seventh with 4.50 saves per game, and eighth with a 1.246 goals against average. She ended the regular season with a 5-2-0 record.
 
Give It A Chance
Cal had one of the top offenses in the country during the regular season, ranking 14th with 43 total goals, a mark that was also good for fourth in the ACC. The Bears put over half of their attempts on frame, ranking second in the conference with a .504 shot on goal percentage. On the individual side, Lema ranked fifth in the conference in that category, giving .588 of her shots a scoring chance, and ranked sixth in the nation with 2.47 SOG per game. The Bears, who have only been shut out once this season, have 13 multi-goal performances and boast an 11-1-1 record in those matches.
 
Second-Half Surge
Cal has done the bulk of its scoring in the second half with 31 of its 43 goals coming in the final 45 minutes. The Bears currently hold a 31-17 second-half goal differential and have only been shut out three times in the period. Fourteen 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.
 
Stay Posted
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