The California men's soccer team advanced to the ACC Championship semifinal round in Cary, North Carolina, for the second consecutive season, with the 12th-seeded Golden Bears facing top-seeded fourth-ranked Virginia on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. PT. The game features the conference's two hottest teams, as Cal brings a three-game winning streak – and wins in four of its last five games – to WakeMed Soccer Park, while the Cavaliers are on a four-game winning streak.
 
The winner advances to Sunday's final to face the victor of the semifinal between sixth-seeded Syracuse and seventh-seeded SMU. The latter match starts at 5 p.m. PT on Thursday, while the final is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT on Sunday. The tournament champion earns the ACC's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.
 
The Bears and Cavaliers last met in the 2024 regular season in Berkeley where they tied 1-1 thanks to midfielder Gaku Nishimura's first goal as a Bear. The point from the tie was Cal's first point in the ACC. Thursday's match will mark the first time that Cal forward Cesar Cordova – who transferred from Virginia to Cal in the offseason – will take on his former team.
 
ACC Championship – Semifinal Round
 
Cal (8-7-2) vs. Virginia (11-1-4)
When: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. PT
Where: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, NC
Watch: ACC Network (PXP: Joe Malfa; Analyst: Devon Kerr)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
The ACC Network will broadcast both semifinals, while ESPNU will broadcast Sunday's final.
 
Bears Top Panthers
Defender Beau Morrison scored his second career goal to power Cal to a 1-0 win over 13th-seeded Pitt on Sunday in the ACC Championship quarterfinals. Morrison scored at the 34:10 mark. After a Cal throw in was sent into the Pitt penalty area, the ball was cleared just as far as Alfredo Ortiz about seven yards from the top of the box. The defender redirected the ball to Gaku Nishimura, and the midfielder served it back into the box and towards the far post. Midfielder Cam Wilkerson nodded the ball down towards the near post, where the onrushing Morrison slammed the ball into the back of the net.
 
Cal Blanks Blue Devils
For the second straight season, Cal defeated Duke 2-0 in the ACC Championship in Durham, North Carolina, with this year's victory taking place in the conference tournament's first round on Nov. 5. Ortiz and Luka Lukic scored to power the Bears to the victory and into the quarterfinals.
 
At 36:48, Cal midfielder Noe Morales was a few yards outside the top of the Duke penalty area when he passed the ball to his left. A Blue Devil player deflected the pass into open space in the corner of the box. Ortiz ran onto the ball and slotted it inside the near post to beat goalkeeper Eryk Dymora. The goal was the senior defender's third of the season, and it gave the Bears a 1-0 lead. The goal was the eventual game winner for Ortiz, who also scored the game-winning goal in the ACC first round last season in a 2-1 victory at No. 14 North Carolina.
 
In the 81st minute, Lukic was fouled in the Duke box to earn a penalty kick, which the forward converted to net his team-leading eighth goal of the season and secure Cal's victory.
 
Park, Pickett Named ACC Players Of The Week
Junhwan Park and D'Andre Pickett earned ACC Player of the Week honors for leading Cal to a 1-0 upset victory over then-No. 1 Stanford on Halloween in Berkeley. Park shared the ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor with Virginia Tech's Declan Quill, while Pickett claimed the ACC Defensive Player of the Week award. The result gave Cal its first home win of the season. It also kept the Cardinal from capturing the ACC regular-season title and top seed in the ACC Championship, snapping Stanford's 10-game unbeaten streak and five-match shutout streak.
 
Three Bears have now earned ACC Player of the Week honors this year including Luka Lukic, who garnered the first accolade of the season.
 
Bears Stun Stanford To End Regular Season
Cal headed into the ACC Championship riding the momentum of a big 1-0 upset win over top-ranked Stanford in the regular-season finale on Halloween in Berkeley. In 2024, a 1-0 win at then-No. 22 Stanford in the regular-season finale propelled the Bears to a deep run in the ACC Championship, which started with a 2-1 win at No. 14 North Carolina in the first round and continued with the quarterfinal victory at Duke. Cal ended its run after a close semifinal match against No. 7 Clemson in Cary, where the Tigers edged the Bears 3-2. Against the Cardinal, Junhwan Park scored a goal for the third straight game to hand the Bears the win, which marked Cal's first home victory of the season.
 
Scouting the Bears

• Cal is third in the ACC in penalty kicks scored (4) and tied for third in penalty kicks taken (5) and is fourth in corner kicks (109)
• Luka Lukic – a graduate transfer from UC Riverside – was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week for the first week of the season after the forward scored three goals in his first two games as a Golden Bear, including a brace in a 3-2 win at Saint Mary's in the Aug. 21 season opener and the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory at UCLA on Aug. 24
• The Belgrade, Serbia, native leads Cal in goals (8), points (17), shots (40) and shots on goal (21) and has one game-winning goal
• In ACC statistics including all games, Lukic is tied for fifth in goals (8), is seventh in goals per game (0.471), and is seventh in shots (40) and shots per game (1.24)
• Sophomore forward Malcolm Zalayet ranks second in goals (4) and points (10) at Cal
• Sophomore midfielder Junhwan Park and senior defender Alfredo Ortiz are tied for third on the team in scoring with seven points (3 goals, 1 assist each)
• Sophomore midfielder Kieran Bracken Serra leads the Bears in assists (4) and ranks fifth in points (6)
• Ortiz is tied with Cam Wilkerson – a UCLA transfer – for the team high in game-winning goals (2)
• Ortiz was one of 15 players named to the ACC Preseason Watch List this summer after ranking fourth in goals (3) and points (7) for the Bears in 2024
• Ortiz contributed one of Cal's biggest goals of 2024 in the ACC Championship opener last November in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, converting Cal's lone penalty kick of the season to give the Bears a 2-1 win over the host Tar Heels
• Graduate student goalkeeper Connor Lambe, who has started 14 games and played 15, has compiled a 1.80 goals-against average and ranks ninth in the ACC in saves per game (2.47)
• Senior goalkeeper Marco Brougher, who has started in three of eight games played, has a 0.65 GAA and a 0.850 save percentage
• Sophomore goalie Zack Andoh has notched a 1.26 GAA after starting the second halves of five matches
• Freshman winger Callen Lewis is the son of former MLS and USMNT star Eddie Lewis, who played for the San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes) and Los Angeles Galaxy along with several English clubs (Fulham, Preston North End, Leeds United and Derby County) and tallied 82 caps for the United States
• Callen Lewis scored his first collegiate goal on Sept. 19 at Clemson
• While Cal just joined the ACC last season, two members of the current squad have had longer tenures in the conference, as defender Sintayehu Clements – now a graduate student – wrapped up a four-year undergraduate career with Duke last season and junior forward Cesar Cordova played the previous two seasons at Virginia
• Leonard Griffin – who won the NCAA championship as a UCLA player in 2002 – was named the 2023 Pac-12 Coach of the Year last season and is in his fourth year as head coach of the Golden Bears
• A former professional player who was drafted No. 11 overall by the Chicago Fire in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Griffin made MLS stops in Portland, Oregon, in Columbus, Ohio, and in Los Angeles with the Galaxy
• The Cal staff includes assistant coaches Ricardo Gutierrez – who worked with Griffin in the latter's previous stops at Grand Canyon and USF – and Jacob Wilson, a Cal men's soccer alumnus
• Henry Foulk – another Golden Bear alum and assistant coach – is in his 25th year of mentoring the goalkeepers at his alma mater
• Foulk (Cal '84) is featured in the 2025 fall edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly for his work in producing numerous goalies who have matriculated to the professional ranks, including current pros Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC, MLS), Drake Callender (Charlotte FC, MLS), David Bingham (Charlotte FC, MLS) and Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena FC, Italy Serie B)

 
Scouting the Cavaliers

• Virginia defeated North Carolina 2-1 in the ACC quarterfinals last Sunday after earning a first-round bye as the tournament's top seed
• Gabriel Bracken Serra – the older brother of Cal's Kieran Bracken Serra – scored in the 27th minute to give UNC a 1-0 lead, before Virginia forward Triton Beauvois (34th minute) netted the equalizer and midfielder/forward Nicholas Simmonds (78th) scored the game winner
• The Cavaliers' other wins during their winning streak came vs. Denver (2-1, Oct. 19), Clemson (4-0, Oct. 25) and at SMU (1-0, Oct. 31) to end the regular season
• Along with the four-game winning streak, Virginia is on a 13-game unbeaten streak that began with a 1-0 win vs. American on Sept. 1 and came after its lone loss of the season – 4-1 at George Mason on Aug. 28
• Simmonds leads Virginia in goals (9), points (23) and game-winning goals (3); he ranks fifth in assists (5)
• Among ACC goalkeepers, Simmonds ranks third in goals per game (.563), is tied for third in goals (9), is fourth in points (23) and points per game (1.440, and is 10th in shots per game (2.56)
• Forward/midfielder Marco Dos Santos paces the Cavs in assists (8) and is third in points (10)
• Dos Santos is tied for second in assists (8) in the ACC and is third in the conference in assists per game (.500)
• In the ACC, goalkeeper Casper Mols ranks fifth in shutouts per game (.500), is sixth in GAA (.929) and is eighth in saves percentage (.723)
• George Gelnovatch is in his 30th season as Virginia's head coach

 
Bears In The Pros
Cal has continued its tradition of producing talented alumni who move onto the professional ranks, with 15 erstwhile Golden Bears playing in the pros in the United States and abroad in 2025. Two Cal alums play in Europe in goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena FC, Italian Serie B) – who was named to a pair of USMNT friendlies in September – and midfielder JJ Foe Nuphaus (Thisted FC, Denmark Second Division). The erstwhile Bears playing in MLS are goalkeeper David Bingham (Charlotte FC), goalkeeper Drake Callender (Charlotte FC), goalkeeper Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC), defender Sam Junqua (Real Salt Lake), defender Nike Lima (San Jose Earthquakes) and defender Wyatt Meyer (Nashville SC). Two former Cal teammates play in MLS NEXT Pro, with striker Nonso Adimabua on the roster for The Town FC and defender Kevin Carmichael with Huntsville City FC. Four former Bears play in the USL Championship in brothers Taylor and Evan Davila – both are midfielders with Louisville City FC – midfielder Jose Carrera Garcia (Forward Madison FC) and midfielder Jack Singer (Las Vegas Lights FC). Rounding out the list is forward Jonathan Estrada, who plays for Irvine Zeta FC in the NISA.
 
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