History was made at Underhill Field in Berkeley on Sunday afternoon as the California field hockey team stunned No. 5 Syracuse with a 1-0 win to tie for the highest-ranked win in program history. The Golden Bears' last top-five win came against then-No. 5 Penn State, 3-2 (OT), on Sep. 1, 2023.
 
The win also marked the Bears' second straight in the ACC as they defeated Boston College 2-1 after seven shootout rounds last Friday night. It also marked Cal's (6-5, 2-3 ACC) second-ever win against Syracuse (10-3, 2-3) as the Bears came into the matchup 1-6 in the series with the sole victory coming on Sep. 5, 2005.
 
Liz Klompmaker's goal in the second period proved to be the difference. It marked her 11th of the season, which ranks fifth in the ACC. The Bears' defense shined through in the game as they successfully defended 13 penalty corners and had to play the last four and a half minutes of the game against 12 players as the Orange pulled its goalkeeper at the 4:30 mark of the fourth period. Two of the 14 penalty corners came in the last two minutes against the extra player with the second one coming with just five seconds left.
 
Goalkeeper Delphine Ayitey-Hammond was tremendous in the cage yet again as she registered seven saves in the game after coming away with six in the win against Boston College. It tied her career high. One of her more impressive saves came with under eight minutes to go in the contest when Syracuse was able to take the ball on a breakaway. It ended up being a one-on-one situation with the Orange having a clear path to the goal but Hammond was able to make a left-glove save on the ball.
 
"I talked to the team about the second game in the weekend and needing to improve the quality and the things we need to do better on Sundays and they really did well today, given the overtime and all of that emotion Friday night," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said." "I'm really happy with that rebound. It got a little frantic here because they pulled the goalie, which is going to happen in these games, and we have to play games like that to learn how to manage it. It wasn't pretty, but we got it done. I'm just unbelievably proud of the team. If you had told me that Syracuse was going to get 13 corners today, I would have told you our chances of winning would be really slim, and I just can't say enough about how much our corner unit has come together since the first game. It's a very selfless situation to be in that special team and only certain people are willing to do that work. For Holly [Pears] to run that line three times in a row and keep getting hit, she pretty much sealed the game for us today."
 
NEXT UP
Cal heads on the road to face Louisville on Friday at 3 p.m. PT.  
 
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