Guzman Nets Winner As Cal Beats No. 22 UCLA

BERKELEY – Adrian Guzman completed the California men's soccer team's comeback win over No. 22 UCLA on Thursday, when the sophomore scored in the 89th minute of the Golden Bears' 2-1 victory. Earlier in the second half, Fahmi Ibrahim scored the equalizer for the Bears, who trailed 1-0 at halftime.
 
Cal improved its record to 3-8-2 (1-5-0 Pac-12) after tying the season series with UCLA. The record for the Bruins, who beat Cal, 2-1, on Sept. 19 in Los Angeles, is now 8-5-0 (3-3-0 Pac-12).
 
The Bears are unbeaten in their last two games, including a 3-3, double-overtime tie at Santa Clara on Oct. 16.
 
"Obviously, there's been immense progress the past three weeks," Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said Thursday. "The training sessions have been sensational, and that's been the difference in our recent success."
 
"Winning's nice," Cal goalkeeper Collin Travasos said. "It feels good. Adding the last 65 minutes of the last game to this one, the past 155 minutes have been significantly different than the rest of our season. We're fired up."
 
UCLA outshot Cal, 5-4, in the first half, with Cal putting three of its shots on goal, only to see Bruin goalkeeper Justin Garces make three saves.
 
The Bears fell behind in the 43rd minute when the Bruins' pressure resulted in a Cal own goal.
 
But the Bears fought back.
 
In the 53rd minute, Cal senior winger Alonzo Del Mundo shot wide, and sophomore forward Nate Carrasco took a shot in the 56th minute that hit the right goalpost.
 
At 73:13, Ibrahim took a short pass from Ian Lonergan and fired past Garces just inside the far post to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Bruins only put one shot on goal all game, and that came in the 88th minute, when Travasos saved a low shot by Riley Ferch.
 
At 88:44, with the match looking like it was headed to overtime, Guzman fired a 23-yard blast into the upper corner of the UCLA net for his first career goal as a Bear.
 
"I just hit it, and it went in, thankfully," Guzman said. "Winning feels good. We've been working really hard at training, but the games haven't been going our way. Today it went our way, and I was just lucky to score."
 
Cal continues Pac-12 action when the Bears host San Diego State on Sunday at 3 p.m.