Bear Tracks: Oct. 8th California Golden Bears women's roundup

October 8, 3:27 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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The Cal Bears women's programs have been tough in every sport this season.  From volleyball to golf, and all of the sports in between, the Lady Bears are a force on women's collegiate sports.  This week was a show of force for the Bears volleyball team that continues to dominate the national spotlight.  It was a good week for a former Bear, who was drafted professionally, and a semi-sweet week for a current Bear that probably would like to have one set back in order to alter the minor setback she suffered.

Cutura and the Bears are on
fire as they blaze through
conference opponents

Volleyball - The last time we checked in on the #8 women's volleyball team, they had a seven match winning streak and had won 17 consecutive sets.  As we check in today, they've now won nine straight matches and have an amazing 23 set winning streak for a 14-1, 4-0 Pac-10, record.  The streak is the second longest in school history.  They have continued this streak most recently on the road and in conference play, which makes it that much more impressive.  It's been so impressive that they are now ranked 5th in the nation.

Last Friday, the Bears were in Seattle to take on the then #9 Washington Huskies (11-3, 2-2 Pac-10).  Junior All-American outside hitter Hana Cutura recorded her fourth double-double of the season to lead the Bears to a 3-0 win over the Huskies (28-26, 25-22, 25-23).  Cutura had 17 kills, 13 digs, and had only four errors on 36 attacks.  It wasn't an easy match for the Bears who trailed in both the first and second sets, only to come from behind for victories in both.  Super sophomore setter (try saying that fast five times) Carli Lloyd led all players with 47 assists and junior middle hitter Mindi Wiley had 10 kills on 15 attacks for .667.  The last time that the Huskies were swept at home was October 4, 2003, by eventual national champion USC.

In Pullman, Washington, the Bears continued their dominance by sweeping the Cougars 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 26-24).  Washington State (7-8, 0-4 Pac-10) didn't go down easily as they continued to play better against Cal as the match went on.  The final set nearly seen the end to the Bears' set-winning streak as the Cougars led 24-23 with setpoint at hand, but Cal was able to stave off the setpoint and finish off Washington State.  Once again, Cutura led all players with 15 kills to go with her six digs.  Senior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon had 10 kills and 3 digs, Lloyd had 43 assists, and Kristen Kathan led all players with 12 digs.

After sweeping both Oregon and Washington, the Bears will now set their sights on the state of Arizona.  They'll be taking on Arizona and Arizona State this weekend at home starting Friday night.  As part of the Pac-10 initiative to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it will be Dig for the Cure night.    The players will wear pink accessories and the ball used for play will be pink.  The Bears take on Arizona State at 7pm PST and it will be televised on Comcast SportsNet West.  The next day, Saturday, October 11, the Bears will face Arizona at 7pm PST.  Saturday is Youth Day and children up to the 12th grade get in free.

Cossou did enough to be
recognized for an award

Tennis - Sophomore #7-ranked Marina Cossou and senior #22-ranked Claire Ilcinkas were the only two Bears competing in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships Main Draw Singles and both did enough to merit their rankings.  Both made it to the round of 16 with solid performances on day one, but Ilcinkas had a tough draw in the second round as she was defeated by defending NCAA singles champion #3 Amanda McDowell in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.  Cossou was able to continue up to the semi's where she was defeated in three sets by #9 Fani Chifchieva 4-6, 6-4, 3-6.

I think this was a great tournament for Marina.  She didn't play a lot of matches over the summer so this was the perfect test to see where she's at. It's always great to have Cal playing in the final rounds at this prestigious tournament. Of course, we were hoping for a more positive outcome but she is only a sophomore and I believe this will serve as great motivation to work even harder in order to get back to this level. She'll be back this time next year with a vengeance.
- Head Coach Amanda Augustus on Cossou's play at the All-American

It wasn't all bad for Cossou and Ilcinkas.  The two teamed up to win the All-American Doubles Qualifier Consolation bracket.  Besides their first match of consolation play, they easily defeated their final three opponents.  In the first match, it took a 9-7 set victory against a team from Georgia to move on to the second round.

One other Cal player was active in singles play at the All-American, #65-ranked senior Bojana Bobusic.  Bobusic had fallen in the qualifier and was placed into the singles consolation bracket.  She was able to make it to the quarterfinals before being knocked out by Amanda Granson of Duke 6-3, 6-3.

The women's team will next be in action Friday through Sunday at the St. Mary's invitational in Moraga, California.

For all of Cossou's success on the court, she was named Muscle Milk California Student-Athlete of the week.

The Bears are looking to defend
their undefeated conference
record

Field Hockey - Fans of Stockton, California's University of Pacific are sure to be disturbed when they see Cal on their teams' schedule.  It seems that in every sport the Bears have faced Pacific this year, they've come out on top.  The Cal ladies of field hockey were no exception this past week.  The victory helped move them up a notch in the rankings, from 15 to 14.

The #14 Bears (8-2, 4-0 NorPac) defeated the Tigers on Saturday 3-0 at Maxwell Family Field.  It was the second time this season that Cal had defeated Pacific, but the first time that it counted in conference play.

Cal outshot the Tigers 15-4, but due to five saves by Pacific goalkeeper, Christina Niccum, the Bears were only up 1-0 at the half.  The one goal came on a penalty corner that was stuck in the net by senior Carolina Bistue at the 12 minute mark.  For a team like Pacific to stay with the Bears the entire first half, doesn't sit well with head coach Shellie Onstead.

When I look over the last few games, we're not doing enough in the first half and we seem to get on track in the second half.  That's really dangerous to play that way. We have to do more in the first half.
- Onstead on the Bears first half performances this season

In the second half, the Bears defense was able to keep the Tigers off the board and sophomore Natalie Nurnberg added two goals to seal the victory.  Nurnberg's goals came in the 53rd and 69th minutes of the game.

The Bears next action will be when they host conference opponent Davidson (3-9, 0-2 NorPac), October 11, 1pm PST, at Maxwell Family Field.

Hamm can't wait to get started
for Bay Area of the WPS

Soccer - The newly formed Women's Professional Soccer League held their general draft on Monday, October 6, in San Francisco and former Cal Bear, Tracy Hamm was picked by Bay Area.  The WPS originally had an allocation draft where globally recognized players were assigned to the seven teams of the league.

I'm more than excited about it.  This is really is a dream come true. To even have this opportunity for the league to start again and when I'm 24 is great. I've worked so hard the past two years and to have it all pay off in the end is incredible.
- Hamm about being drafted by Bay Area

From the ashes of the original Women's United Soccer Association, the WPS has been formed and will begin play in April of 2009.  The league consists of only 7 teams for their inaugural year, but will be adding three more teams for the 2010 season.  The league has also entered into an agreement with Fox Soccer Channel to televise a game of the week.

#15 Cal (7-3-0, 0-0-0 Pac-10) will begin conference play this Friday, October 10 1:30pm PST, at home (Edwards Stadium) against Oregon State (3-7-1, 0-0-0 Pac-10).  On Sunday, the Bears will take on the other Oregon (7-3-1, 0-0-0 Pac-10) team at 12pm PST at home.

Goodman and the Bears find
the links rough in Washington

Golf - The ladies golf team coming off of it's second straight fall tournament victory, the Cal Bears moved on to compete in the 2008 Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational held at Sahalee Golf and Country Club in Sammamish, Washington.

The magic that they've had to start the season was clearly in need after the first round.  The first round yielded a fourth place result as the ladies of Cal struggled as a team with a +22 for the round.  Leading the charge was senior Allison Goodman who shot an opening round of 74 to place her tied for fifth at +2.  Shannon Yocum stayed close behind with a (+4) 76 to keep herself tied for 12th.

During the second round, Goodman had trouble with her stroke and plummeted in the standings to tied for 20th after a (+8) 80 on the day.  Yocum shot another (+4) 76 to limit her fall to tied for 8th and Diane Kwon bettered her round one score of 78 to shoot a (+4) 76 and remain at 20th, tied with her teammate Goodman.  The team actually moved up in the standings.  After an opening 310 score, the second round was better by two strokes for a 308, leaving Cal tied for 3rd overall and twelve strokes behind rival Stanford.

Today, the final day of the tournament, the Bears shot a 309 as a team dropping into a final tie for fourth with University of San Francisco who had risen from 11th place on day one.  Both Goodman and Kwon shot a final round of (+3) 75 to move up tied for 13th for the tournament while Yocum shot a (+7) 79 to fall to tied for 16th.

Here are the final standings for Cal: 

The Bears will get plenty of opportunities for high-
lights in 2008 and 2009

Basketball - It will be pretty easy to find the ladies' basketball team on television this year.  On Friday, it was announced that Fox Sports Net and Comcast will combine to televise seven games during the 2008-09 season.  FSN also has an option to pick up two other conference games during the year, which would make it nine in total.  The Pac-10 Conference Championship Tournament will also be shown on FSN.

Last year, the Bears set new heights for the ladies basketball team with a 27-7 record and a third straight NCAA Tournament selection.