Cal Stunned By No. 1 UW In Final Seconds

BERKELEY – California men's soccer was nine seconds from earning a 1-1 tie with No. 1 Washington on Thursday when the Huskies scored again, and the Golden Bears lost, 2-1, at Edwards Stadium.
 
"It's an empty feeling," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "The guys competed hard and left it all on the field. It's always tough when you do that and you come up short. I'm proud of the guys for the effort."
 
Cal's record fell to 3-7-5 (1-5-2 in the Pac-12), while Washington improved to 13-0-2 (5-0-1 Pac-12).
 
Washington took a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute, as Chris Meyers sent a UW corner kick into Cal's six-yard box, and, after a brief scrum, Nick Scardina bundled the ball over the goalline.
 
In the 35th minute, Cal was awarded a penalty kick after a foul in the Washington box. Senior forward Fahmi Ibrahim scored an equalizer off a penalty kick for the second consecutive game, and the teams eventually took the 1-1 score into halftime.
 
Cal did well to weather the storm from the Huskies, who outshot the Bears 22-9 for the game. But the shots on goal stat was almost even – UW only had a 5-4 edge – and Cal's Collin Travasos was staunch in the net, making three saves.
 
With Cal moments away from earning a point from the game and the P.A. announcer starting to count down the last 10 seconds of the game, Washington's Gabe Threadgold crossed the ball into the box, and Ilijah Paul headed in the final goal.
 
The Bears have played their share of close matches with the Huskies in recent years. The last time the Bears got a result when playing the nation's top-ranked team was in 2019, when they upset No. 1 Washington, 3-2, in Seattle to make then-head coach Kevin Grimes Cal's all-time leader in coaching wins. Cal also played the Huskies – ranked No. 4 at the time – close last fall during a thunderstorm in Seattle. That game was tied 1-1 when officials declared it a no-contest in the 61st minute due to flooding on the field. This year's Bears also played top-ranked UW close in Seattle in a 1-0 setback on Oct. 9.
 
"Our staff – assistant coaches Ricky Gutierrez, Jake Wilson – did a fantastic job preparing for these guys, just trying to come up with a gameplan offensively and defensively that could potentially work, and for the most part our guys did a good job of executing that," Griffin said. "When you do that, you give yourself a chance in any game. When a team's ranked that high, there's definitely extra motivation to compete and play hard.
 
"But now we have to pick ourselves up and play a tough Oregon State team on Sunday."
 
Cal next hosts the Beavers in another conference match on Sunday at 12 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Cal women's soccer team.
 
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