BERKELEY– The California women's soccer team shutout Bay Area rival Santa Clara 2-0 Saturday evening at Edwards Stadium to extend its unbeaten streak to seven matches.
The 56th meeting between these two programs, who have met at least once a year since 2007 and seven times in the NCAA Championship, was a gritty, physical match from start to finish. In all there were 17 fouls committed, and six yellow cards distributed.
The Golden Bears (5-1-5) not only shut out the Broncos (4-4-0), but they also did not allow a single shot on goal, which has only happened to SCU twice in the last 15 years. This is the fourth clean sheet of the season for Cal and its first shutout win.
The Bears were clearly winning the possession battle in the first half as made evident by a handful of promising scoring opportunities, but the Broncos backline managed to keep them out of the net until late in the period.
In the 38th minute senior
Coco Thistle stole a ball in the midfield and played it forward into a trio of Broncos. Just as they corralled it freshman
Mia Van More came flying onto the scene and took the ball in stride to the right side of the penalty area. After a few dribbles the Cal forward fired a perfect shot into the upper left corner of the net for her second career goal.
The second and final score of the night came in the 69th minute when junior center back
Malia McMahon scored on header for the second time this season. Junior
Reese Doherty played in the corner kick from the right side and sent a perfect ball to the back post where McMahon was able to bounce it off the post and in to put the match on ice.
Cal won the shot battle 12-4 in its first shutout win over Santa Clara since 2022.
The Bears have now finished their nonconference schedule and will return to ACC play next week when Syracuse (Sept. 25) and Boston College (Sept. 28) come to Edwards Stadium. The match with the Eagles is Cal's
MS4MS Awareness match where the team will be raising funds and awareness for MS.
