Bears Return Home For Two Games This Weekend

BERKELEY - The California field hockey team completes its stretch of playing four out of six games at home this weekend. The Golden Bears (3-2) will face Brown on Friday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. before facing No. 4 Northwestern on Sunday, Sept. 19, at noon. Sunday's match will mark Cal's fourth ranked foe in seven games this season.

"I'm looking forward to this weekend, it's similar to the setup we had last weekend," said the Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead. "We're excited to have some good days of training to get ready. We're excited for the homestand, and hopefully we'll have a lot of people come out."

The Golden Bears will dedicate Friday's match against Brown to their former teammate Zoë Rogers, who tragically and unexpectedly passed away last October.    

Bears Split Road trip
• Cal split last weekend's road trip to Maryland. The Bears started the weekend continuing their offensive momentum from the 1-0 win over Dartmouth on Sept. 5 by defeating Towson, 4-1. Battling a top-10 team two days later, No. 7 Maryland topped Cal, 4-0, to close out the trip.  
 
Offense Leads Cal Past Towson
• Scoring once in each quarter, Cal handled Towson, 4-1, last Friday. After out shooting Dartmouth, 19-1, on Sept. 5, Cal amassed 22 shots to Towson's eight. The Bears also put 18 of their shots on goal to five by Towson. The Bears also doubled the Tigers up in corners, 8-4, scoring on three of those eight attempts. Anne Van Hoof scored twice with eight shots, five on goal, while Jane Onners and Rachel Buttinger notched their first goals of the season. 

Strong Defensive Effort 
• Although Cal lost at No. 7 Maryland, 4-0, last Sunday, the Bears hung tough defensively. Cato Knipping made a season-high eight saves, while Jane Onners garnered two defensive saves for the first time in her career. Brynn Zorilla and Megan Connors also earned defensive saves. The Terrapins earned 13 corners, and Cal's defense fought hard to keep the Bears in the game, trailing just 1-0 at halftime.
  
All-Time Vs. Brown And Northwestern
• The Bears are 1-1 all-time against Brown, most recently falling to the Bears in 2019. Cal beat Brown in their first-ever meeting in 2015, a 2-1 overtime victory. Cal is 4-10-1 all-time against Northwestern, and the Wildcats have won the last five consecutive meetings. The last time Cal beat Northwestern was in 2008 (5-1).

Van Hoof Adds Experience
• A graduate transfer from Wake Forest, Anne Van Hoof has made her presence felt through the first five games of the season. The native of The Netherlands paces the Bears with 17 shots, 10 on goal. She scored twice in Cal's 4-1 win at Towson, and in Cal's 1-0 win over Dartmouth. Van Hoof has started every game in the backfield. She brings veteran experience after Cal lost Yvie Lock and Sara Deck in the backfield after the spring campaign.      

Smart Bears
• A program-record group of 23 Cal field hockey student-athletes were honored with 2020 Zag Field Hockey/NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad laurels. Cato Knipping, Natalie Moore, Sara Stone and Kaiden Stanley were tabbed NFHCA Scholars of Distinction with Knipping earning the honor for the second straight year. Cal was also once again tabbed an NFHCA National Academic Squad. In addition, 22 Bears earned America East Honor Roll accolades, with 16 picking up AE Commissioner's Honor Roll stature (3.5 GPA or better). Earlier this week, Cal won the Newmark Award for the highest GPA (3.603) among Cal's large women's programs.  

Honoring Zoë 
• Showing unified courage and leadership after experiencing the tragic unexpected passing of teammate Zoë Rogers last October, Cal won the Pac-12 2020-21 Sportsmanship Award, which is annually award to a Pac-12 program based on good sportsmanship and ethical behavior in participation of intercollegiate athletics, as well as a demonstration of good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. For more info, click here.   

Next Up
• Cal will play its next five consecutive games on the road, venturing to the east coast for the next four before a battle at UC Davis. First up, the Bears will face New Hampshire in the America East Conference opener on Friday, Sept. 24, at noon.