ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Alfredo Ortiz scored his second goal of the season to propel the California men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over UNC Asheville on Tuesday at Greenwood Soccer Field.
 
The Golden Bears improved their record to 4-3-2 with the nonconference win. The Bulldogs are 4-3-1.
 
After a 0-0 first half in which the Bears outshot UNC Asheville 5-4, they produced a good scoring chance early in the second half when Noe Morales pushed his shot wide of the far post.
 
About one minute later, Cal's Malcolm Zalayet headed a ball down to fellow forward Luka Lukic at the top of the Bulldogs' penalty area. Lukic played a short pass to the onrushing Ortiz, who fired the ball between defender Benian Yao and goalkeeper Lucca Barros and into the net to give the Bears the lead.
 
On the Bulldogs' last shot of the game, midfielder Rinta Takagi fired a ball that was deflected towards Cal's goal, and Marco Brougher – in the senior goalkeeper's first minutes of the season – made the save at the 88:28 mark to preserve the 1-0 win.
 
"It was a game that we knew would be tough," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "We knew we would have the ball a bit especially in the first half, and I was happy with our ball rotation. We had some decent chances then and in the beginning of the second half. I'm proud of the group for being patient and capitalizing on our chance and then seeing out a result to grind out a 1-0 win."
 
Ortiz, who was named to the ACC Preseason Watch List in August, is a speedy outside back who has now contributed two goals and four points in his senior season.
 
"He has a lot of ability on both sides of the ball, and we know we can rely on him," Griffin said. "This game we pushed him a little more forward and it ended up paying off."
 
Cal returns to ACC action when it hosts Syracuse on Saturday in Berkeley.
 
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