Late Goals Spoil Bears' Stellar Effort

ORONO, Maine – The Cal field hockey team played a nearly complete game and held a lead at the end of three, putting a scare into the 22nd-ranked Maine Black Bears. However, the host team prevailed thanks to a pair of fourth-quarter goals to defeat Cal 4-3 on Friday afternoon at the Maine Field Hockey Complex.

Statistically, the Golden Bears went toe-to-toe with the Black Bears. Cal finished the afternoon with 13 shots, 11 on goal. Maine had 18 shots with 12 on goal. The difference was in the fourth quarter where Maine was able to capitalize.
Cal outshot the home team 5-3 in the fourth and had a 4-2 advantage in penalty corners, however, it was Maine that put two on the scoreboard in the final period to come away with the win.

"I'm immensely proud of the team for a really complete hard-fought game," said the Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead. "We got a lot of things going that I've been looking for. However, I'm immensely upset over the first 31 seconds. I don't think there's any excuse to not be ready for the start of a game. So, it's just the tale of 59 minutes and 29 seconds of great hockey. We executed the game plan, focused on a couple of key players, and managed that all really well and I was really confident that if we did that we'd be in the game and come away with the win. We came within 31 seconds of being right there at the top of the table, but we will turn our focus to Sunday."

The Black Bears capitalized on a slow start by the Golden Bears scoring in the game's first 31 seconds. Chloe Walton took the feed from Tereza Holubcova, scoring the first of her two goals on the afternoon.

To their credit, the Bears immediately came to life. Caoimhe Byrne scored the Bears' opening goal in the sixth minute when she corralled a loose ball and fired a point-blank shot past Maine's keeper to tie the game up at 1-1. The goal by Byrne was her first as a Golden Bear.

Two minutes later Kiki de Bruijne scored her third goal in as many games. Cal took advantage of a Black Bear turnover and de Bruijne was able to beat Maine's defense for a one-on-one opportunity with the keeper. The goal by de Bruijne was her third of the season, which ties her career high of three goals she scored as a freshman.   

At the 13-minute mark, Maine was awarded a penalty stroke, Poppy Lambert converted to tie the game up 2-2.

The second quarter was a quiet period for both sides. Cal managed just two shots and Maine had three. Cato Knipping was stellar, finishing with two saves in the period. The senior keeper had seven on the day giving her 64 for the season – 15 shy of her career-high from last season.

In the third quarter, Cal managed just one shot but made it count. Sara Stone took a feed from Sydney Decher in front of the goal and blasted a shot to the top left corner of the cage. It was the fourth goal of the season for Stone.

Cal picked up the pressure on the Black Bears in the fourth but could not score another goal. Maine however, got goals from Lambert in the 46th minute and scored the game-winner in the 54th minute when Walton scored an unassisted goal.

UP NEXT
Cal will return to action on Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. PT when they take on New Hampshire at Memorial Field in Durham, N.H. Sunday's contest will feature live stats and video which can be accessed on the field hockey schedule page.
 
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