BERKELEY – California rugby closes out its four-game road swing this week with a trip to the east coast to face Army West Point on Saturday. The Golden Bears and the Black Knights will kick off at Warrior Field at the Anderson Rugby Complex in West Point, N. Y., at noon EST. The contest will be aired live on The Rugby Network as the collegiate "Match of the Week."
 
Cal (9-1, 3-0 PAC) has won three road games over the last two weeks, including two conference matchups. The Bears outscored Arizona 85-10 in Phoenix on Feb. 17 before taking down Grand Canyon 74-7 in Tucson on Feb. 19. In a quick turnaround, a young Cal squad headed to Utah for a conference contest last Friday, and the Bears put up a 69-22 win over the Utes. Cal has given 42 different student-athletes playing time during the road swing, 29 of which have gotten the call to the Bears' first 15.
 
Army has put together a 3-4-1 record in XVs action this season. The Black Knights played the majority of their season in the fall, picking up wins over Penn State (26-6), Queens (26-7) and Air Force (22-17). Army posted a 7-7 draw with Notre Dame College and took losses to Ireland's Trinity College Dublin (38-7), St. Bonaventure (29-26), Kutztown (27-7), Life (39-24), and, most recently, was edged 23-21 by Navy.
 
Army head coach Matt Sherman is a former Bear captain who graduated from Cal with a bachelor's degree in American Studies in 2003. Sherman was a four-time national champion with the Blue and Gold and a three-time All-American before completing a professional playing career as a U.S. international from 2003-05. Sherman has been the head coach of the Black Knights' program since 2015 and has led Army to one national championship during his tenure. Prior to his arrival at Army, Sherman was the head coach at Stanford from 2011-15 and an assistant coach at San Diego State before that.
 
The Bears last made the trip to West Point eight years ago for the Varsity Cup quarterfinals on April 16, 2016. Cal pulled off a come-from-behind 41-29 victory over Army to clinch a semifinal berth en route to winning the national championship that same year. Former Cal rugby standouts Russell Webb, Nic Mirhashem and Anthony Salaber were all tryscorers in the contest.
 
Since then, Cal and Army have played against each other three times in Berkeley. The Bears and the Black Knights met in the final round of the Cal Invitational on March 11, 2018 when Cal came out on top 50-41 to win the tournament. In 2020, the then-No. 1 ranked Bears routed the Black Knights 62-22 in what would be the final match of the shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The teams last met for a regular-season contest on March 4, 2023 in Berkeley. Cal upended then-reigning national champion Army 31-14 in front of a packed crowd in Strawberry Canyon. The Black Knights struck first with a converted try, but Cal answered with a try by Max Threlkeld, which was converted by Max Schumacher, to level the score. A try by Oliver Newall gave the Bears a lead they would not relinquish, and Cal Liebowitz added another score to extend the Bears' advantage at the break. The Black Knights put another converted try on the board early in the second half, but Newall dotted down his second try, which Schumacher converted, and Caleb Tomasin added one more score to lift Cal to victory. Ten of the Bears' starters in the contest return to the pitch for the Bears this year.
 
After heavily rotating the starting lineups over the last two weeks, the Bears are expected to travel an experienced squad to New York this weekend. In the front row, props Emilio Shea and co-captain Charlie Walsh alongside sophomore hooker Cade Crist are anticipated to return to Cal's first 15.
 
Cal has been without three-year starter and stalwart lock Tom Dixon for the last two weeks due to injury, and he will remain unavailable this weekend. Sophomore Miles Malone will likely hold onto the starting lock role in Dixon's absence, joined by Pat Deely in the second row. The Bears' backrow is also likely to once again feature flankers Hugo Schreuder and Jon Puckett with co-captain Alex Aguero as the No. 8. 
 
In the midfield, the halfback duo of sophomores Solomon Williams and Rand Santos is likely to go unchanged, along with fellow sophomore Threlkeld and co-captain Will Shankland as the centers. Cal's backline is expected to feature the Bears' leading try scorer Joe Kirsten on the wing, in addition to winger Evan Weigold. Leading points-scorer Kealan O'Connell is anticipated to play the fullback.
 
"It is an important trip for us," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "We need to prove that we can be the best versions of ourselves in a contest against a postseason-caliber team. They are a really good team, powerful, and adding in travel and field conditions, we are anticipating a challenging encounter."
 
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