Cal Wins Home Finale
BERKELEY – California women's soccer won their home finale on Saturday afternoon, defeating Arizona State 1-0 at Witter Rugby Field.
The game was originally scheduled to be played at 12 p.m. at Edwards Stadium, but due to heavy rains in the Bay Area, conditions on the grass field of Edwards Stadium became unplayable. The game was moved to the turf field at Witter Rugby Field, where Cal played during the spring 2021 season. The game kicked off just before 1 p.m.
The players had to deal with rain throughout the contest and high winds that affected the flight of the ball numerous times.
Through it all, the Bears were able to win. The lone goal of the game came just before halftime as Ayo Oke scored her first career goal, which put the Bears in front. The Bears were defending a corner kick in their own half. Arizona State tried a set play, working the ball to the top of the box. Jayda Hylton-Pelaia attempted a shot, but Anysa Gray blocked it. Gray then pounced on the rebound and set off on a full field run. She dribbled the ball nearly 60 yards, then took a shot, which was saved by Julia Ortega. However, the rebound bounced away to Oke who was waiting and calmly slid the ball into the back of the net.
Karlie Lema had a couple of good opportunities to score as she used her speed to get in behind the Sun Devil defense as she was aided by a ball that was skipping off the turf. However, twice her shots went wide. Jadyn Shinn, Kaylee Nguyen and Emma Westin also recorded shots on goal as the Bears outshot ASU, 15-10.
However, the story of the day was the Bears' defense. Which held up strong, not putting a foot wrong for the majority of the game as they earned their seventh shutout of the season. The Bears didn't allow a goal for the third consecutive game, a shutout streak of 312 minutes.
Arizona State did record nine corner kicks and four shots on goal, but Angelina Anderson was up to the task as she recorded four saves and now has 19 career shutouts, just one from tying for fifth on Cal's all-time list.
Cal (8-4-3, 4-3-1) has won three consecutive games, all by 1-0 scorelines. The Bears have 13 points in Pac-12 play and have moved up to sixth place. Arizona State (8-7-2, 0-6-2) has two points and remains in 11th place.
Due to the conditions, Cal was not able to hold a senior day celebration as planned. But the Bears still honored their 10-person senior class of Abena Aidoo, Sydney Collins, Elle Lindenlaub, Devin Lozano, Paige Metayer, Emily Smith, Makena Smith, Emma Treasure, Emma Westin and Amanda Zodikoff with flowers.
The Bears will head on the road for their final three regular season games of the year. The Bears will begin this season-ending road swing by playing USC on Thursday at 3 p.m.