BERKELEY – Sophomore defender Giancarlo Mota scored the first goal of his California men's soccer career to lift the Golden Bears to a 1-0 victory over visiting Sacramento State on Sunday at Edwards Stadium.
 
Cal improved to 1-1-0, while the Hornets fell to 0-2-0 after the nonconference result.
 
Both teams had good scoring chances in the first half, when Sac State outshot Cal 6-5. Cal goalkeeper Marco Brougher made two saves, with the junior making a nice stop on the Hornets' best chance – an Ethan Kelly blast from the top of the box that a leaping Brougher managed to push over his crossbar in the 25th minute.
 
Cal put all five of its first-half shots on goal, including an Adrian Guzman chance from 19 yards out in the 20th minute, an Arik Duncan header off a corner kick in the 22nd minute and a Brendan Bell effort in the 44th minute, with Sac State goalkeeper Mac Learned saving all five.
 
The teams were knotted at 0-0 at the break.
 
The goal came at the 54:39 mark. Just outside the Sac State penalty area, Cal defender Isaiah Thomas played the ball to Kai Djerbaka on the right, and the midfielder's cross found Nonso Adimabua in the box. The striker settled the ball for Mota, who fired it past Learned inside the near post.
 
"I didn't think twice – I just put it in the back of the net," Mota said. "I'm just really happy to get my first goal as a Bear."
 
The Castro Valley product made 12 starts out of 17 games played in 2023 and posted one assist.
 
The Hornets outshot Cal 5-4 after the goal, though only one – a 20-yard shot in the 75th minute that forced a diving save from Brougher – was on goal.
 
Brougher finished with four saves, while Learned had six.
 
"You always want to get that first win and get the monkey off the back," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "We're super confident in our group and in guys stepping up, guys off the bench. We're deeper than we've been in my years past, so we're excited to see everyone coming together and making an impact on the game. To get a result today was huge. This is exactly what we needed to bounce back from the result against Denver. Now we'll hopefully take this momentum into Southern California this week."
 
The Bears next play at LMU on Thursday and at CSUN on Sept. 1.
 
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