Bears Bounce Back Against Utah

BERKELEY - Tenth-ranked California bounced back with a 1-0 win against Utah (1-4-2, 0-2-1 Pac-12) following a Friday afternoon loss versus Colorado. The Golden Bears improve their record to 3-1-0 (2-1-0 Pac-12) and add a second clean sheet to the season tally.

"Today was a very good overall team performance," said head coach Neil McGuire. "It was nice to get an early goal, but we had to be at our best to be able to thwart a vey good Utah attack. Our team continues to impress in terms how hard they work for one another." 

The Bears took control early on as freshman Abby Borchers took the first shot in the sixth minute. Borchers' shot hit the top of the Utah post and earned the first Cal corner kick of the afternoon. Cal would maintain possession for most of the first half and keep a 10-5 shot advantage.

Cal defender Kailee Gifford found an opening in the 14th minute, but the shot was saved by Utah goalkeeper SJ Edwards. An offside committed by the Utes in the 19th minute would lead Cal's Jadyn Shinn to her first shot of the game, but the ball went wide. 

In the 37th minute, sophomore transfer Keely Roy scored the goal that gave Cal the 1-0 lead, playing a 1-2 with Emma Westin and then slotting the ball past Edwards into the lower left corner of the net.

The Utes spent most of the second half playing catch up. Utah found more trips to the Cal final third and held a 8-3 shot advantage, but was unable to find an opportunity to tie the match. In the 83rd minute, Utah's Kennedy Carter took a shot that gave Cal goalkeeper Angelina Anderson her fifth save of the match. 

In the 88th minute, the Utes took back-to-back shot attempts in the dying minutes with a shot from Taliana Kaufasi that hit the crossbar and a wide ball from Courtney Talbot. 

The Bears collected their third overall win and second Pac-12 win of the season. 

Cal heads up to Washington for another road trip next weekend. The Bears will first play Washington State on March 12 on Lower Soccer Field at 7 p.m.. The road trip will close on March 14 against Washington at 2 p.m. in Husky Soccer Stadium. 

Keep up-to-date on the Golden Bears throughout the year by following the team on Twitter (@CalWSoc), Instagram (@CalWSoc) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWSoc).