BERKELEY – California rugby advances to the D1A national collegiate championship quarterfinal following its 70-13 win over Cal Poly on Saturday afternoon at Witter Rugby Field.
 
"We appreciate Cal Poly and thank them for the match and congratulate them on another postseason appearance," Cal head coach Jack Clark. "I loved the performance of our boys. For those that got the call up, it was their biggest match ever and they shined."
 
The Mustangs had the first scoring opportunity of the match when they attempted to convert on a penalty kick in the second minute of the contest, but the kick was no good and the match remained scoreless.
 
The Golden Bears got points on the board first from a set piece to take an advantage it would never relinquish. Sophomore Rand Santos kicked a ball to touch and Cal won its attacking lineout to set up a scoring phase. The forwards swung the ball out to the backline and sent the ball into the tryzone in the arms of sophomore Oliver Newall. Santos converted to make it 7-0.
 
Five minutes later, Cal Poly was awarded another penalty kick opportunity, which it successfully converted on to get three points. From then on, the Bears took control of the scoreboard for most of the half, putting up five more tries.
 
The forward pack collected a try when senior co-captain Charlie Walsh got possession and fended off a couple of Mustang defenders to take it within five meters of the goal-line. Walsh offloaded it to a trailing senior Clayton Seastrand who carried it between the posts, and Santos added the extras.
 
The two teams turned over possession a handful of times for the next twelve minutes, before sophomore Michál de Beer broke a tackle to carry the ball forward and send it into the tryzone in the arms of senior Evan Weigold on the wing. De Beer scored a try of his own just three minutes later, spotting a gap in the Mustangs' defense and running the ball in himself.
 
The Bears put up two back-to-back tries at minutes 32 and 34. Sophomore Solomon Williams picked the ball up from a ruck and snuck through Cal Poly's defense to put the ball in scoring position. He handed it off to junior Joe Kirsten to dot down beneath the posts. After the restart, the Bears swung it out to Weigold on the wing who put it in Santos' hands around the 22-meter line to carry in for a try. Santos converted on both scores.
 
Cal Poly had the last word of the first half, picking up a Cal fumble and carrying it into the left corner. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful and it was 38-8 in favor of the Bears at the half.
 
The Mustangs were on the attack at the beginning of the second period, and created numerous scoring opportunities in Bear territory. They finally capitalized on Cal playing a man-down due to a yellow card infraction and strung together a scoring phase to score their second and final try of the day.
 
The Bears then scored six unanswered tries to close out the contest. Kirsten got possession on the wing and cut inside to dot down his second try of the day at minute 54. Six minutes later, sophomore Max Threlkeld – who made his return after being out for two weeks – broke the Cal Poly line and carried into scoring territory before sending it out to Weigold on the left corner to touch down.
 
Senior Mack Fell came off the bench and set up a try, grubbing the ball forward for Newall to pick up and set down past the goal-line for his second try of the day. Five minutes later, Cal worked back into scoring territory and set up a scrum on the five-meter line. Senior Brett Dowgiewicz picked the ball off the back of the scrum and dove into the tryzone for another Bear try. Kirsten added the extras.
 
One minute later, freshman reserve Emmett Cook carried in a score, and Weigold clinched a hat trick with his third score of the day at the 79th minute to make it a 70-13 victory for the Bears at the final whistle.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will now play in the national quarterfinal match next Saturday. The Bears will head to Moraga to take on west region No. 1 seed Saint Mary's, who defeated Grand Canyon 78-7 earlier today at home.
 
Scoring Timeline
Cal vs. Cal Poly
5:00 – Oliver Newall 5, Rand Santos 2
10:00 – Cal Poly 3
12:00 – Clayton Seastrand 5, Rand Santos 2
24:00 – Evan Weigold 5
27:00 – Michál de Beer 5
32:00 – Joe Kirsten 5, Rand Santos 2
40:00 – Cal Poly 5
Half: Cal 38, Cal Poly 8
51:00 – Cal Poly 5
54:00 – Joe Kirsten 5
60:00 – Evan Weigold 5
69:00 – Oliver Newall 5
74:00 – Brett Dowgiewicz 5, Joe Kirsten 2
75:00 – Emmett Cook 5
78:00 – Evan Weigold 5
Final: Cal 70, Cal Poly 13
 
Starting XV
1. Clayton Seastrand 2. Cade Crist 3. Charlie Walsh 4. Miles Malone 5. Ryan Marshall 6. Dom Paga 7. Bryan Bogne 8. Brett Dowgiewicz 9. Solomon Williams 10. Rand Santos 11. Evan Weigold 12. Max Threlkeld 13. Michál de Beer 14. Joe Kirsten 15. Oliver Newall
 
Substitutions:
Emmett Cook (60:00), Mack Fell (60:00), Lance Hackett (60:00), Josh Mao (60:00), Michael Puckett (60:00), Caleb Tomasin (60:00), Jon Puckett (63:00)
 
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