SANTA CLARA – Senior forward Karlie Lema scored her third goal of the season Sunday afternoon, but the California women's soccer team lost to No. 22 Santa Clara on the road 2-1.
The Golden Bears' first loss of the season brings their record to 1-1-0 while the Broncos improve to 2-0-0. Santa Clara won the shot battle 12-9 and placed four on goal.
The Broncos got on the board in the 16th minute via a corner kick. Tori Powell earned the goal, redirecting the ball played in from the right corner to give Santa Clara a 1-0 lead.Â
In the 42nd minute the Bears committed a foul inside the 18-yard box resulting in a penalty kick for the home team. Kat Jordan stepped up to the spot and converted to extend Santa Clara's lead 2-0.
The Bears had a couple of strong opportunities with a handful of runs at the Bronco goal but couldn't place any of their first-half shots on frame.
Santa Clara captain Sally Menti earned her second yellow card of the match in the 68th resulting in a red card that forced the Broncos to play down a person for the remainder of the afternoon.
From that point on the Bears picked up the offensive pressure and lived in the attacking third, but could not convert, ending the match without a shot on goal. One of Cal's runs at the goal resulted in Julia Leontini picking up a foul in the box in the 84th minute. Lema stepped in for the penalty kick and buried it to cut the deficit 2-1.
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The Bears continued to play aggressively for the final six minutes but could not find the evasive equalizer.
Lema ended the match with three shots and Leontini and Velize King each had a pair.l Goalkeeper Teagan Wy went wire-to-wire and picked up two saves.
With the first of three straight WCC matchups in the books, Cal now returns home to host Gonzaga on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. before taking the Bay Bridge over to San Francisco on Sunday at 5 p.m.
