Cal Women Win Second Straight
from press release
BERKELEY, Calif. – Alexa Rozelle scored a
game-high five points to lead California to a 14-6 conference
victory over Saint Mary's on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon at
Witter Rugby Field. The Golden Bears improved their record to
2-1 (2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Gaels
fell to 0-1 (0-1 in the MPSF) after dropping their season
opener.
The Bears have a 19-1 record in the all-time series with Saint
Mary’s.
Both teams got off to a slow start in the wet conditions, as they
tied 2-2 at halftime. Junior midfielder Vail Horn gave Cal a 1-0
lead by converting a free-position shot just 53 seconds into the
first half. Junior attacker Tara Arolla also scored a
free-position, or eight-meter, goal in the first half at 5:44 to
give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Mariah Walk, who led the Gaels with four
points (3 goals, 1 assist), scored a pair of unassisted goals in
the first half.
The Bears outshot the Gaels, 15-6, in the first half. But Saint
Mary’s goalkeeper Kathleen Worsdale made six of her game-high
10 saves through 30 minutes to keep her team in the game.
“Our execution was off, and we struggled in the first
half,” Cal head coach Theresa Sherry said. “A good team
finds a way to win, even if it’s having a bad day. We figured
it out in the second half.”
Cal’s first four goals of the match were eight-meter goals,
including the first two of the second half. Freshman midfielder
Teresa Li converted the first one at 34:36 – marking the
first goal of her college career – and Horn notched the
second one at 34:47. The Bears opened the second half with a 6-0
run, including goals by senior midfielder Chapin Jackson (36:08),
Arolla (36:33), sophomore midfielder Megan Takacs (37:41) and Horn,
who tallied another eight-meter goal at 41:08. Horn’s strike
gave Cal an 8-2 lead.
“At halftime we talked about a couple of things tactically,
about how their goalkeeper was good and had good presence in the
cage,” Sherry said of Worsdale. “We had to shoot off
the feed instead of just driving in, to change the point of attack
and shoot off the pass in the second half more to get her
moving.”
Walk stuck with her third goal of the game at 42:05 to make the
score 8-3. But that was the closest Saint Mary’s would get
the rest of the game. Just 21 seconds later, Rozelle scored her
first goal of the game to give the Bears a 9-3 lead.
Cal scored three of the next four goals, including the first two of
the season from sophomore midfielder Ana Cyr (43:52 and 49:19) and
freshman midfielder Paige Gasparino’s first goal as a Bear
(46:09), to claim a 12-4 advantage.
Saint Mary’s pulled within six goals at 12-6 after strikes by
Krista Morgan (49:55) and Katie Nelson (51:51). Rozelle then scored
the last two goals of the game (55:17 and 56:35) to give Cal the
14-6 win.
“I’m proud of her coming in off the bench and having a
big impact,” Sherry said of Rozelle, who has already matched
her four-goal total of 2010. “She executed a couple things I
talked to her about before going on. It’s nice to see someone
listen, take advice to heart and finish. She did a great
job.”
Cal senior goalie Allie Shropshire made two saves in almost 46
minutes of work. Freshman goalie Megan McGinnis played in relief of
Shropshire and did not record a save. Junior defender Tori Harrison
gathered a game-high seven ground balls for the Bears.
The Bears play their next three games on the road, with
nonconference stops at Longwood on Feb. 25, at Davidson on Feb. 27
and at second-ranked Northwestern on March 11.
