LINDENWOOD LIONS (3-0, 0-0 ASU) AT CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (1-2, 0-0 PAC-12)
FRIDAY, FEB. 23, 2024 • 5 PM PST
CALIFORNIA MEMORIAL STADIUM (BERKELEY, CA)

CAL STARTS FIVE-GAME HOMESTAND FRIDAY AGAINST LINDENWOOD 
— Cal and Lindenwood are meeting for the second time in school history with the Lions returning a visit the Golden Bears made to St. Charles, Mo., last season when Cal was a 17-9 winner in both the debut of now second-year head coach Jennifer Wong and the first Division I game for Lindenwood. 
— Cal has opened the 2024 season at 1-2 with a home victory by Akron followed by losses at Le Moyne and Cornell, while Lindenwood is 3-0 with home wins over San Diego State and Louisville sandwiching a road victory at Radford.
— Friday's forecast in Berkeley calls for mostly cloudy skies, a high temperature of 63 degrees and a low of 46, a 10% chance of precipitation, and winds from the east and northeast at 10 miles per hour.
— Cal's five-game homestand from Feb. 23 - March 12 will be its longest stretch of consecutive regular-season home games since playing five in a row at California Memorial Stadium from March 3-16, 2017, as well as one shy of the school record of six straight at home to open 2007 (Feb. 22 - March 15, 2007).

LAST TIME OUT: CAL DROPS SECOND STRAIGHT IN 13-7 LOSS AT CORNELL 
— Cal dropped its second straight game on an East Coast road trip with a 13-7 loss at Cornell on Saturday. The Bears were defeated at Le Moyne, 9-6, on the opening game of the trip Thursday.
— Saturday's game at Cornell started in a heavy snow squall and the field was blanketed with the white stuff just minutes into the contest. The Big Red jumped out to a 2-0 advantage before Kennedy Mason and Kennedy Goss answered with back-to-back goals to tie the score with 3:25 to go in the opening period. But Cornell scored the next three goals and held on to at least a two-goal lead for the remainder of the contest.
— Isabel King and Addie Fischer each scored a pair of goals to lead the Cal offense with King also picking up an assist.
— Cal was held scoreless in the third quarter and had just three goals through the game's first 45 minutes before scoring four times in the fourth quarter.
— Cornell dominated statistically with advantages in shots (26-13), shots on goal (19-10), ground balls (15-11) and draw controls (12-11). The Big Red also made good on 17-of-21 clears, while Cal was 14-of-16. Cal committed 19 turnovers, while the Big Red had 13.

OTHER NOTABLES
— Mason has taken over Cal's team lead in points with nine. She is tied with Mya Wang for the team's lead in goals (6) and with Kate Rothman in assists (3). Mason also paces the Bears with 16 shots and 12 shots on goal.
— Goss continues to rack up the draw controls. With a team-high 17 in the first three games of 2024, Goss ranks fourth in the Pac-12 and has increased her Cal all-time leading total to 219.
— Cal has played three goalkeepers in the first three games in Callan Fritsch, Alicia Souliotis and Chloe Rand. Fritsch has started all three contests but Souliotis leads the team while ranking second in the Pac-12 in goals against average (7.27) while also leading the squad and ranking fifth in the conference in save percentage (.467). Rand has a team-high .667 save percentage in her limited 4:20 of action. None have played enough minutes to be listed among NCAA leaders (minimum of 60% of the team's minutes).
— Cal has had the same starting lineup in each of its first three contests.
— Cal's 19 goals in its season-opening 19-10 home win over Akron on Feb. 9 were its most since a 20-10 home victory over Saint Mary's on April 7, 2017.
— Jennifer Wong became only the second Cal head coach to win back-to-back season openers in the win over Akron.
— Cal's foul totals have significantly dropped each game (vs. Akron 21, at Le Moyne 9, at Cornell 4).
— Cal has played 26 of its 33 players, including nine that have made their Cal debuts.
— Cal is playing its sixth and final season in the Pac-12 before officially becoming a member of the ACC on Aug. 2. The Pac-12 began sponsoring women's lacrosse in 2018. The league's 2020 schedule was canceled due to COVID. The Pac-12 added San Diego State and UC Davis for the 2024 season to bring its total members for women's lacrosse to eight. The teams will play a single-round robin regular-season format for the first time after having faced each other twice in league games previously.