Bear Tracks: Sep. 10th California Golden Bears roundup

September 10, 1:37 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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The Bears are cruising for
another NCAA title

It doesn't seem like I was gone that long, but since the last time I did Bear Tracks, a whole bunch of things have happened.  So instead of all of the formalities, let's just get down to it, shall we?

Baseball - The schedule is out, and the Bears will be facing nine teams that made the postseason last year.  Last season Cal finished with a 33-21-2 record going 12-12 in the Pac-10 and earning a spot in an NCAA regional.

Cal's all-time top draft pick, Brandon Morrow nearly no-hit the Yankees at Safeco Field on Friday.  What was even more special about the outing was that it was his first career Major League start.  Morrow went 7.2 innings, letting up 1 run on 1 hit, 3 walks, and fanning 8.  Had he no-hit the Yankees, he would've been the second pitcher in Major League history to no-hit a team in his first start.

Men's Water Polo - The Bears are proving that they are truly the best team in the country.  Over the weekend, they dusted off the competition at the Navy Open, going 4-0 and producing the Nov. 8th Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Co-Molten Player of the Week.  Now that was a mouth full!

The Bears demolished Cornell 18-6 then took on 10th ranked Navy and beat them decisively 13-4.  The Bears stiffest competition came from 12th ranked St. Francis as they beat them 10-6.  Cal finished off the Navy Open with another demolition, this time of Johns Hopkins 18-4.

Cal is now 19-0 in five years of participating at the Navy Open.  They outscored their opponents 59-20 over the weekend on the strength of their Senior captain Frank Reynolds who finished the open with 11 goals, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 ejections earned, and 2 field blocks.  This performance earned him the Nov. 8 MPSF Co-Molten Player of the Week award.

Cal will next compete in the prestigious NorCal Open, Sept. 20-21 in Stockton.  All of the nation's top water polo teams will be competing at the NorCal Tournament, including Pac-10 schools Cal, USC, Stanford and UCLA.

Soccer

Men's - The fifth ranked Bears won the Cal Legacy Tournament over the weekend by first defeating Cornell 5-0 in an obvious mismatch.  They outshot Cornell 21-7 and had goals from four different players.  They were led by Davis Paul with two.  They then tied 7th ranked SMU 1-1 where they outshot them 24-9.  Pat Marion was named Tournament MVP and Cal won the tourney, while tied with SMU, due to goal differential.

The men's team will travel to Santa Clara to play the Broncos on Friday at 7pm PST.  They moved up a spot in the rankings to number four on the strength of their 3-0-1 start.  They return to Edwards Stadium September 21st to take on Creighton at noon PST.

Women's - The Cal women began their upward ascent in the polls going from 21st ranked to 20th ranked by beating Missouri 3-0 on Saturday.  The victory improved the Bears to 4-1 on the season.  All three goals came from different players as Lisa Kevorkian, Nikki Schrey, and Alex Morgan all chipped in for the scoring.

The Bears will travel to Moraga, CA. to compete in the Saint Mary's Fall Soccer Classic starting Friday, September 12.  They will play Northridge (4-0) on Friday at 2pm PST and Boise State (3-1-0) at noon on Sunday. Cal has a 7-0-1 record in the Saint Mary's Tournament over the past four years.

Field Hockey - Cal went undefeated on their three game Virginia road trip by first beating Longwood 4-1, then they shut out Radford 4-0,  and finished up with a dismantling of Appalachian State with a 7-0 drubbing where they outshot the Mountaineers 30-1.  The victories improved the Bears to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the NorPac conference by beating their opponents 15-1 over the three game sweep.

Leading scorer, Andrea Lo, was named NorPac offensive player of the week after having 3 assists and 3 goals in 4 games.  Cal is currently unranked, but that could change if they are able to continue their outstanding play over the next few weeks.  They'll first come back home to host 19th ranked Albany on September 13th at Maxwell Family Field at 1pm PST.  They will then go on the road to face 16th ranked Michigan on September 25, and 10th ranked Michigan State on the 27th.

Volleyball - The 5th ranked Bears easily won the 2008 Golden Bear Invitational by winning 9 straight sets over three opponents last weekend.  They beat James Madison 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-20), DePaul 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-19), and UC Riverside 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-17).

For the tournament, the Bears had many players receive awards.  Carli Lloyd won MVP/Outstanding Setter and Kristen Kathan was named Defensive Standout.  The Bears also had three players named as Tournament Standouts (Morgan Beck, Hana Cutura, and Mindi Wiley).

Cal will go on the road to for the Diet Coke Classic to play Minnesota on September 12th and then face Notre Dame (13th) and Cal Poly (14th) in Minnesota.  Their next home match will be on September 26th when they'll open up conference play against Oregon.

Golf

Men's - The Bears took a team title at the San Francisco Intercollegiate on Tuesday at the Olympic Club by beating the field of 14 teams by eight-strokes.  The first meet of the season proved that the Cal men's golfing program is on the rise.  They were led by Michael Jensen, who shot 213 (71, 70, 72), over three rounds to share top medalist honors for the event.

Cal's next action will be September 20th-21st at the Wolverine Intercollegiate in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Women's - For the second straight year, the Bears won the Ptarmigan Fall Classic with Shannon Yocum repeating as champion.  Yocum finished with a three round score of 208 (71, 67, 70), tying her for a Cal record for low score in a round.  The team broke records as well.  Their 36 hole score of 557 bested the previous mark by 20 strokes and they also broke the 18 hole record of 282 by 9 shots to reset the mark at 273.

Of the 19 schools competing, Cal finished ahead of the pack by 6 strokes with their final talley of 846 for the three round tournament.  Their next event will be in Madison, Wisconsin as they will compete in the Badger Invitational.

Men's Tennis - Cal will begin the 2008 fall individual tournament season by hosting the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic in St. Helena, CA. from at 9am to 5pm PST on Friday September 12th and Saturday the 13th.  The tournament will conclude on Sunday the 14th with matches taking place from 9am to 1pm PST.  The tournament is a round-robbin event that will include players from Harvard, Illinois, and two-time defending champion Georgia.  Admission is free and you can get more information at www.meadowood.com.

Football - After their resounding victory over Washington State last Saturday, the Bears jumped into the national polls for the first time this season.  They are ranked 23rd in the AP poll, 25th in the USA Today Coaches' poll, 20th in ESPN's Power Rankings, and 27th in the CBSSports.com 120.

Jahvid Best was named Muscle Milk California Student-Athlete of the Week, following Cal's soccer stud Andrew Wiedeman as the second to win the award.

The Bears go on the road this week to face Maryland (1-1) for another nationally televised game Saturday, September 13th at 9am PST.  This time the game will be televised on ESPN.

Coach Tedford and some of the players were at a press conference on Tuesday.  Here are some of the quotes from that:

Coach Tedford

• On how complete the victory was over Washington State - It was [complete] but we still made a lot of mistakes. That was the major emphasis as we met as a team on Sunday were all the details we need to improve on if we expect to be a contender. We just didn't play well enough. Sure the game turned out in our favor but there is a lot of detail we still need to pay attention to.
• On preparing for the Maryland game - Well, there are challenges, no question. They have changed some things schematically, especially on defense. Flying across the country provides challenges. But we're going to try to get acclimated, get our body chemistry acclimated to East Coast. We are going to do it while we stay here. We're playing on grass, we're going to practice on grass. There are a few things that we have to pay attention to no question.
• On keys for the team going forward - That we continue to develop. That is the key. Walking away from the game, I was very disappointed with our kickoff coverage team. But after looking at the tape, on one of those we had the guy stopped between the 20 and 25 yard line. He just reversed field. It was kind of a broken play, he broke out and reversed his field. On the very last one, we just didn't cover very well. We did a little bit better this week covering. We need to continue to improve the tackling on defense. We need to catch the ball better on offense. We have got to have more production out of our passing game. There is a lot to improve on. A lot of it is detail. Just foot placement, hand placement, head placement. You name it there is a lot to improve on.
• On the progress on the High Performance Center - I was amazed at how much they did in one day. We left and in one day all the trees are down. Will it affect our recruiting? I think it will. We can say with confidence and clarity that there is progress being made. We can say that this recruiting class will realize that in their time here. I do think that it will make a difference as we move forward. I am thankful for our student athletes and that they are going to have a new facility. I am grateful for the administration and all the people that have spent the time and money to get this done.
• On the tree-sitter situation - There have definitely been distractions. But I think you get used to it after awhile. All the nuisance, all the gates, all the different parking. When people come from out of town on an unofficial trip you always have to explain what's going on. It's not your normal unofficial visit. You don't just walk up. There are other things going on here. It's something you have to address all the time.

Zack Follet

• On the adjustment to the 3-4 defense - They've been doing a great job with everything. They are the biggest key to this defense - if you don't have a front three that can get the job done then it's going to allow teams to just run the ball, our guys held Washington State to 1.6 yards per carry last week and [Michigan State's] Javon Ringer to under 100 yards, so I give a lot of credit to them and what they've been doing.
• On preparing for the East Coast trip - Coach Tedford is going to take care of everything, make sure we go to bed at the right times. It's going to be an early game for us, so we definitely are going to do something to get our bodies ready for it and I'm excited for it. I think it's a big game for California as a whole to have this East Coast-West Coast game for pride.

Kevin Riley

• On the offensive line - They're doing awesome. They're making huge holes and they're doing they're job. They are prepared every game and I feel they will continue to do that.
• On Will Ta'ufo'ou - He's probably the one that makes the play go or doesn't. He has the iso block on the lineman or backer and he's doing his job getting in their way, making them take a different course and even in practice you can see him making plays. He's just unbelievable.

For more quotes go here.

Tree-Sitters - The final four came down and were led away in handcuffs.  They wouldn't come down, but finally did at the last minute saying that they'd come to an agreement with campus officials.  The university is disputing the tree-sitter's claim.

According to Eric Eisenberwhen, the tree-sitter spokesman, UC-Berkeley agreed to create a committee that will give community members a larger role in discussions of future development.  UC-Berkeley Assistant Police Chief Mitch Celaya said there was no agreement, although the university may consider engaging the community in future discussions of development.

The fight with the tree-sitters cost the university in the ballpark of $1.5 million and now they'll be able to finally build the $124 million athletic facility.

After 21 months of hassle, what did these 'protestors' accomplish?  <Editorial Response> Wasting $1.5 million of tax payer and donor money, while putting the athletic program in limbo and possibly helping to lose some top recruits.  Thanks losers.