No. 25 Bears Hosts Buffs, Utes At Home
BERKELEY – No. 25 Cal women's soccer returns to the friendly confines of Edwards Stadium for a pair of games this week, the first two of the final three-game home stretch of the regular season. The Bears host the Colorado Buffaloes at noon on Thursday and the Utah Utes on Sunday at 3 p.m. Sunday's match will include a Senior Day ceremony to honor the 11 seniors on the squad. Both matches will also be aired by the Pac-12 Network.
Cal enters Week 11 with a 9-4-4 overall record and 4-3-1 conference record following its unbeaten weekend in Oregon. The team is ranked at No. 25 by the United Soccer Coach's weekly poll for the second consecutive week.
The Bears blanked the Beavs 2-0 on Oct. 20, the team's seventh shutout of the season and the 25th career shutout for keeper Angelina Anderson. Skylar Briggs lit up the scoreboard first for the Bears, netting a ball right into the bottom center of the goal. It was her first career goal for the Blue & Gold. Ayo Oke set Briggs up for the points with a beautiful free kick, her sixth assist of the season. Oke later put her own goal on the sheet to extend Cal's advantage. She fought past the OSU defense and launched a rocket that hit the left goalpost and spun right into the top of the net.
Cal earned a 1-1 draw against Oregon on Oct. 23, dominating possession for the duration of the match. The Ducks scored early on in the game, but the Bears took control after that, taking 24 shots and 14 corners in the process. In the 83rd minute, Keely Roy was called upon to for a penalty kick to equalize the score. She converted the kick with ease, extending her record to five successful goals on five attempts this season. Roy remains at the top of the national rankings for her 100 percent success rate on penalty kicks in 2022.
The Bears take on Colorado in a midday home match this week. Cal currently leads the overall series with the Buffs 5-5-3. Last year, the two teams earned a 2-2 draw in double overtime. Colorado comes to Cal following their tie with USC last week.
Cal also leads the overall series with Utah 10-1-3 and have won the last three matches against the Utes. Utah visits Berkeley after a 0-3 loss to UCLA at home last week.
ACCOLADES FOR ROY
Keely Roy earned Pac-12's Offensive Player of the Week on 10/10 after her pair of game-deciding goals over the Washington schools lifted Cal to a three-game winning streak. She now has eight goals scored this season, ranking her fifth in the conference, and she is 4-for-4 on penalty kick conversions this season. She was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week and to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
Roy started the season on fire, scoring a brace in Cal's win over UC San Diego. It was the first time in nearly three years that a Bear has had a multi-goal game, with the last one coming on September 6, 2019 when Emma Westin scored twice against USD. Roy followed that with a long-range goal in Cal's draw against USF as she hit a shot from 25 yards out that found the side netting in the 78th minute and secured the draw.
Roy scored her fourth goal as she tallied from the penalty spot against UCLA, and added her fifth of the season on a penalty kick against Arizona State on 9/29 She added goals six and seven in a home match vs. WSU on 10/6 and locked in her eighth in the match vs. Washington on 10/9 to secure Cal's sweep over the Washington schools.
Roy also tallied a goal in Cal's exhibition match against the Chinese National Team, which Cal tied 2-2 against the 16th-ranked team in FIFA's rankings.
BACK-TO-BACK
Sydney Collins was named Pac-12 defender of the week for the second straight week on 9/19 after she helped the Cal defense to two more shutouts against UNLV and Penn. Collins and her teammates helped limit their opponents to only four shots on goal and four corner kicks across the two games in weeks 4 and 5. The Bears have shutout six opponents this season, including four consecutively, and have a season-record of 398:16 of consecutive game time without giving up a goal.
MANRIQUE LEADS HOT WEEK
Ari Manrique had her best week in a Cal shirt as the sophomore scored in games against UNLV and Penn to wrap up non-conference play. She also tallied an assist vs. Penn to score five points on the week, outscoring her point total from the 2021 season. Manrique's play contributed to Cal scoring a team-best five goals over two games.
DEFENSIVE HONORS
Angelina Anderson and Sydney Collins were named Pac-12 Goalkeeper and Defender of the week on September 12. The duo helped the Bears complete the week without surrendering a goal. Cal kept shutouts against Cal State Fullerton and Santa Clara. Anderson made four saves, while Collins marshaled the defense, which only allowed four shots on goal across two games.
STIFLING DEFENSE
Cal has had one of the best defenses in the country so far this season. They've allowed only 40 shots on goal this season, just 3.2 shots on target per game. Cal has allowed more than one goal in only two games this year and has posted six shutouts on the season, including four in a row. The Bears have only given up 10 goals in 12 games.
A-PLUS ANGIE
Angelina Anderson is now fifth on Cal's all-time saves list with 239 in her career. Anderson also has 24 career shutouts, plus three more combined shutouts and is tied for second with Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Maite Zabala on the school's all-time shutouts list after recording shutouts vs. Saint Mary's, Cal State Fullerton, Santa Clara and Arizona.
Anderson was named National Freshman of the Year in 2019 as well as Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She was the first player to win both Freshman of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year in the conference. She earned second-team All-Pac-12 in 2020-21 and third team honors in 2021 as she's proven to be one of the top shot stoppers in the nation.
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