CALIFORNIA LACROSSE GAME NOTES

NO. 10 BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES (2-4, 2-2 ACC) at CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (3-3, 1-1 ACC)
SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2026 • NOON PT
CALIFORNIA MEMORIAL STADIUM (BERKELEY, CA)

CALIFORNIA-BOSTON COLLEGE LACROSSE HISTORY
— Boston College leads the all-time series, 2-0.
— Saturday's game will be the first between the teams in Berkeley and the first anywhere since Boston College was a 16-6 winner on April 14, 2012, at the Newton Sports Complex in Newton, Massachusetts. The Eagles also won their only other meeting (9-8) on April 6, 2003, at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
— Both previous contests were nonconference games.

LAST TIME OUT: NO. 15 SYRACUSE 13, CAL 3 (MARCH 3, 2026)
— Cal lost its third straight game with a 13-3 defeat on the road to No. 15 Syracuse in an Atlantic Coast Conference contest at the JMA Wireless Dome. Cal was able to stay close for much of the opening period thanks to an Emily Moes' goal on an assist from Willow Cyr with 7:42 remaining in the first period that tied the game at 1-1. The play of freshman Lulu Murphy also helped as the goalkeeper was able to fend off six of the first eight shots she faced before Molly Guzik connected with just five ticks left in the opening period to extend the Orange lead to 3-1.
— Syracuse pulled away in the second period and led 10-1 at halftime after scoring seven goals in the second while the Golden Bears did not find the back of the net during the same period.
— Both teams exhibited strong defensive play after intermission with Syracuse adding just three more scores and the Bears picking up a pair for the final margin. Ashleigh Masterson scored on assist from Avery Hoeft with 1:02 to go in the third quarter for Cal's second goal of the game, while Katie McMullen went coast to coast for an unassisted goal with 2:36 to go in the fourth to wrap up the contest's scoring. 

SEASON-LONG FOUR GAME HOMESTAND
— Cal opens a season-long four-game homestand against No. 10 Boston College on Saturday that will be followed by games against Stonehill (March 9), No. 1 North Carolina (March 12) and Marist (March 16).   

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS
— Cal has an 8-3 record in nonconference games over the last two seasons since joining the ACC prior to the 2025 campaign, posting a 6-1 mark in 2025 and a 2-2 record through its first four nonconference contests of 2026.

SCHEDULE SHIFT
— Cal played its first five games of the 2026 regular season against unranked opponents but starting with its Feb. 28 game at No. 23 Duke will play seven of its final 12 regular-season contests against teams currently ranked in the IWLCA Division I Coaches Poll. Tuesday's game at No. 15 Syracuse was the second in the stretch with remaining contents against ranked teams including No. 10 Boston College (March 7), No. 1 North Carolina (March 12), No. 6 Notre Dame (March 28), No. 11 Clemson (April 3) and the regular-season finale at No. 2 Stanford (April 16). All seven currently ranked teams on Cal's 2026 schedule played in the 16-team NCAA Championship in 2025, with North Carolina winning the national title and Boston College reaching the semifinals.    
 
ONE-GOAL GAMES
— Three of Cal's first seven games in 2026 have been decided by a single goal with the Bears winning each of its first two at San Diego State (13-12) and at home against Florida State (10-9) before falling 13-12 to UC Davis.    

WONG LEADS FOUR IN DOUBLE-DIGIT POINTS THROUGH SEVEN GAMES
— Courtney Wong (26 points – 13 goals, 13 assists) is Cal's leader in assists and points through the first seven games of the 2026 campaign, while she is the co-leader in goals along with Emily Moes (17 points – 13 goals, 4 assists). Wong and Moes are two of the four Bears who have double-figure points this season with the others Josie Lillquist (12 points – 9 goals, 3 assists) and Avery Hoeft (12 points – 5 goals, 7 assists).

SAME STARTERS
— Cal has had the same starting lineup in each of its first seven games in 2026 with the group including attackers Josie Lillquist, Ashleigh Masterson, Emily Moes and Courtney Wong; midfielders Katie Bloomer, Annette Ciupek and Willow Cyr; defenders Kennedy Herndon, Grace Kerr, Clara Page and Ari Tavoso; and goalkeeper Lulu Murphy.

THE DRAW CIRCLE
— Cal has received most of its production in the draw circle this season from the trio of Courtney Wong (35 draw controls), Ashleigh Masterson (25) and Grace Kerr (14). Cal's 85 draw controls as a team are one fewer than its opponents' 86.
 
PAGE LEADING THE DEFENSE
— Clara Page has led the defense through the first seven games with 24 ground balls and a team-high-tying eight caused turnovers along with Kennedy Herndon.

LULU MURPHY LEADS NATION'S FRESHMEN IN SAVES
— Lulu Murphy leads the nation's freshman goalkeepers and ranks tied for 14th overall nationally with 56 saves through her seven games. She is the first freshman to serve as Cal's primary starter in goal since Jenny Wilkens in 2016. Lily Rathbun also saw just over half of the team's action in net as a 2021 freshman. 

WEATHER NOTES
— The AccuWeather forecast for Berkeley on Saturday at first draw at high noon calls for sunny to partly cloudy skies, a 0% chance of precipitation, a temperature of 71 degrees, and winds out of the northeast at 12 miles per hour.
— The differences in weather the Bears played in during two back-to-back road games earlier this season was dramatic. On Feb. 8 at USC in Los Angeles, it was 81 degrees under sunny skies at first draw before dropping 40 degrees to 41 in Eugene, Oregon, 11 days later on Feb. 19.   
   
HEAD COACH JENNIFER WONG
— Jennifer Wong is in her fourth season as the Cal lacrosse head coach in 2026. In each of her first three campaigns with the Bears, Wong's team has posted a better record than in the previous season.
— Wong is the only head coach in Cal lacrosse history to have won the season opener in each of her first four campaigns.
— Wong led Cal to its first-ever ACC win this season with a 10-9 victory over Florida State on Feb. 13.
— Wong was named Cal's head coach on Aug. 30, 2022, following a long and successful coaching tenure on the staff at Temple, where she spent 14 campaigns as an assistant (2008-09, 2011-15) and associate head coach (2016-22) over two stints.

THE ROAD WELL-TRAVELED
— Cal's most recent two-game road trip at Duke (Feb. 28) and Syracuse (March 3) was its third of four trips outside the Bay Area during the 2026 regular-season. Cal has also made visits to San Diego State/USC (Feb. 6-8) and Oregon (Feb. 19), while the team's final regular-season road trip out of the Bay Area is a three-game, nine-day journey March 21-28 at Louisville (March 21), Xavier (March 24) and Notre Dame (March 28). Cal also has a trip across the Bay for its regular-season finale at Stanford on Apr. 16.

LONG TRIPS TO BERKELEY
— Cal is scheduled to host eight games at California Memorial Stadium in 2026 with seven teams visiting from more than 2,500 miles away. UC Davis is the only opponent of the eight in the Pacific Time Zone and just over 60 miles away.

HOMETOWN HEROES
— Two of Cal's starters – M Willow Cyr and GK Lulu Murphy – both hail from the state of Massachusetts. Cyr prepped at Concord Carlisle HS in the Boston suburb of Carlisle, where she was a team captain and an Academic All-American as a 2022 senior. Murphy was a three-time all-league player at Winchester High School in Winchester, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

A LITTLE MORE
— Cal has had a lot of success against Boston College during the 2025-26 academic year with the Bears a combined 6-1 against the Eagles in men's basketball, women's basketball, field hockey, football, volleyball, men's soccer and women's soccer.