Bears Come Home For Brief Homestand, Face Siena

Wednesday, March 12 vs. Siena
12 p.m. PT – Cal (1-2, 1-2 MPSF) vs. Siena (1-3, 0-0 MAAC)
Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium – Berkeley, Calif.
Series Record: First Meeting
Coverage: Live Stats | Live Video 

BERKELEY – After a tough loss last week at UC Davis, the California women’s lacrosse team gets to return to Berkeley for a brief two-game homestand. The Golden Bears will welcome Siena to Kabam Field at Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, March 12, at noon. Cal (1-2, 1-2 MPSF) will be playing its first nonconference game of the season when it faces Sienna. This will be the first-ever meeting between Cal and Siena.
Through three games this season, true freshman Bella Huther and sophomore Lizz Lavie are tied for the team lead in points with 10. All of Huther’s points have come from goals, while Lavie leads the team in assists with eight. In addition, junior Gaby Christman leads the squad in draws (14), caused turnovers (7) and ground balls (6).

A Look at the 2014 Golden Bears
• Head coach Ginger Miles and the Bears emphasized their overall team depth as one of their strong suits at the outset of this season. Through two games this season, Cal has had 10 different goal scorers, and seven of those 10 have scored more than one goal.
• The first three games, true freshman Bella Huther has emerged as Cal’s leader in goals with 10. She scored four times in the season opener against Saint Mary’s, and tallied five more goals against San Diego State before adding her 10th goal last week at UC Davis. Her efforts against the Aztecs earned her MPSF Rookie of the Week honors.
• In addition to the production from Huther, junior Gaby Christman has quietly been padding her stats, as well. One of Cal’s 2014 team captains, Christman currently leads her team in draws with 14, ground balls with six and caused turnovers with seven. In addition, Christman has also notched five goals thus far. Along with the nine draws from freshman Caroline Schlegel, she and Christman’s efforts have led Cal to currently lead the MPSF in that category with an average of 16.0 per game. In the individual conference rankings, Christman is tied for third in caused turnovers, third in draws and tied for ninth in shots per game.
• Another impressive start to the season has come from sophomore Lizz Lavie. Miles had stated Lavie would be taking over Melissa Humphrey’s old role of dishing out the helpers, and Lavie has done just that. She leads the team in assists with eight and is tied for first on the squad in points with 10. She had a goal and two assists vs. SDSU before adding two more helpers at UC Davis last week.
• Ginger Miles is in her third season as head coach at Cal. She previously coached Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for two seasons, leading CMS to NCAA Tournament second-round appearances both years. The Bears have been in the MPSF Tournament in both of her previous seasons at Cal, and Miles also guided former standout Megan Takacs to become the first All-American in the history of the program.

Bears Give Up Four-Goal Lead, Lose at UC Davis, 8-7
Cal couldn’t maintain its four-goal lead as UC Davis came back in the second half to beat the Golden Bears, 8-7, last week. Senior Paige Gasparino notched two goals for the Bears.
Cal held a 5-1 lead before Davis netted its second goal with 18 seconds left in the first half.
After the break, Gaby Christman scored to give the Bears a four-goal lead again at 6-2. Cal went scoreless until the 6:41 mark, and the Davis scored five goals in a row during that time.
Gasparino notched her second goal to tie the game again at seven at the 6:41 mark.
With two minutes left in regulation, Gasparino got a yellow card to put the Bears down a player. UC Davis scored the eventual gamewinner with 17 seconds remaining.

Scouting Siena
• Siena is currently 1-3, picking up its lone win over Wagner.
• The Saints’ leading scorers thus far are Sarah Croutier (10 points - 7 goals, 3 assists) and Erin Mossop (9 points - 7 goals, 2 assists).
• Defensively, Brianna Sirianni has notched 10 ground balls, eight draws and two caused turnovers, while Croutier has 11 ground balls and two draws.
• Through four games, keeper Samantha DePasquale has a save percentage of .529 and a goals-against average of 11.83.

Huther Making Immediate Impact
Nobody has made a bigger impact for the Bears through the first three games of 2014 than true freshman Bella Huther. She currently leads the Bears in goals with 10, which also ranks third in the conference. Huther scored nine of those 10 games in the first two games with four in her collegiate debut at Saint Mary’s and five more in the home opener against San Diego State. Two of those goals against the Aztecs came during the Bears’ late run to tie the game with five seconds left in regulation and send it into overtime. Her performance in that contest led her to be named the MPSF Rookie of the Week on March 3. It was her first weekly honor and Cal’s first weekly conference honor this season.

Christman Racks up Draws and Ground Balls
Very quietly through the first three games, junior Gaby Christman has been piling up some key stats for the Bears. One of this seasons’ team captains, Christman currently leads her team in draws with 14, ground balls with six and caused turnovers with seven. In addition, Christman has also notched five goals thus far. Along with the nine draws from freshman Caroline Schlegel, she and Christman’s efforts have led Cal to currently lead the MPSF in that category with an average of 16.0 per game. In the individual conference rankings, Christman is tied for third in caused turnovers (2.3 ctpg), third in draws (4.7 dcpg) and tied for ninth in shots per game (5.0).

Hansen Gives Bears a Chance With Big Saves
Despite falling to UC Davis, 8-7, last Saturday in Davis, keeper Helen Hansen did everything she could to keep the Bears in the game. Hansen made five saves, and many of her saves came at critical times when the game was close. Hansen’s efforts helped Cal build two four-goal leads during the contest.

Next Time
Cal continues its brief homestand. The Bears will host No. 11 Towson at Kabam Field at Memorial Stadium on Thursday, March 20, at 4 p.m.

Blogging Bears
Head coach Ginger Miles and Cal lacrosse student-athletes Casey Reid and Marissa O’Meally are blogging this year to give their fans some behind the scenes insight on the Cal lacrosse team. Miles’ blog is called “Mondays With Miles” while the player blog is called “Roll on With Ris and Reid.”

Follow the Bears on Twitter; Like the Bears on Facebook
Join the Bears on Facebook and Twitter. By liking Cal Lacrosse on Facebook, you can see photos, discuss the latest happenings with fellow fans and much more on the social networking site. Following @CalWLacrosse on Twitter means similar inside information, status updates of the Bears as well as up-to-date scoring information.

GoldenBearSports.com
Photos are available for purchase through GoldenBearSports.com, the official photographer of the Cal Athletics Department, on their website at GoldenBearSports.com. You can also follow @GBSports on Twitter or Like the GoldenBearSports page on Facebook to get instant notifications when new albums and galleries are posted to the website. Visit twitter.com/gbsports to follow.