Cal's goalkeeper, Talia Fonseca, has only made one save while yielding three goals. Overall, the defense seems tighter than last year, forcing a ton of turnovers.

The FOSH - San Jose State vs. California Live Stats

Bears looked stronger in second half and tallied eleven goals to win going away, 19-7, over the Spartans. Cal 's offense spread the ball around, allowing 11 different players to score. The two playmakers that stood out were New Zealand freshman, Holly Dunn, with one goal along w/ 4 assists, and soph MacKenzie Walker with 1 goal and three assists. Three other freshmen registered their initial goals for Cal: Roder, Hassett & Ramirez.

The announcer announced the final score of the earlier contest: Fresno State 14, Michigan 12. Bears meet the Bulldogs tomorrow at 12 noon.

If someone wants to watch the live streaming, I had to take out a monthly subscription to witness this game. Cal plays UC San Diego tomorrow late afternoon. GO BEARS!

What did we learn? Not much. Cal's talent is significantly better than SJS, allowing Simmons to play a press and front defense. Stanford does this regularly against lesser talent. SJS dumped the ball more often than they shot the ball. Fresno has stronger play at center and I suspect we will see Cal in a different D tomorrow.

Dunn is a player. Bonaguida is a threat from on top. Flynn has a cannon. Fonseca igot most of the routine shots and showed a nice touch on outlet passes.

Fonseca's outlet passes were impressive. I don't recall hearing the names of fellow freshmen: Bogachenko (Israel), Varro (Hungary) or Soquel's Murphy. Junior Janna Tauscher (Mater Dei) showed improvement at center with three goals.

Several of SJS's goals came from their center position. A couple of times the defender got beat one-on-one to allow the Spartan to go right in on the goalie.

Varro, Bogachenko and Murphy did not show on the stat sheet and I didn't hear their names called last night. I don't know why. Simmons may be red-shirting Murphy since she has 4 other centers on the roster when Varro arrives.

Bears bang the Bulldogs, 8-3, at half. Bonaguidi & Swadling seem to be among the best offensive players for Cal. Once again, the defense has been stifling, and it has minimized the number of shots directly on the goal keeper.

Cal has turned it over 5 or 6 times attempting to pass into the center position. Jana Tauscher has the only goal inside. Who else has been playing there? Several players have not played yet that were keys last night. Hassett has played briefly but all of the other six freshies have not been visible. Center Voordouw, attacker Flynn & D Voorvelt have not been involved too much on offense. Flynn converted a penalty shot. Dunn & Walker had seven assists between them but have not been in yet (that I'm aware of).

FSU outplays Cal, 5-3, in the 3rd period. Hopefully-the Bears awaken for the final quarter.

FSU dominating the 3rd quarter. Cal using pressing D again. What worked in 1st half isn't working now.

Polodad said:

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FSU dominating the 3rd quarter. Cal using pressing D again. What worked in 1st half isn't working now.

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Benson is the best coach in the women's game not on the farm.

Two good TO's by Simmons in the last 2 minutes+. Great D by the Bears on the last FSU possession.

Could be, but Wright and Klatt are really good.

Bears hold on 13-10 with two clutch goals by Swadling and Hassett in the final period. Bulldogs outscored Bears, 7-5, in 2nd half. Cal (2-0).

It still seems to me that Fonseca is slow reacting to shots by Fresno State. Some are going past her by the time she even makes a move. I guess that time will tell. UCSD up next around 4pm.

I'll try to make it back. I have to write my women's bball prediction for Wake Forest. It usually takes me approximately two hours to complete.

Cal 15, UC San Diego 6 at intermission. Hardly any defense being played by either side.

Fonseca continues to give up last second goals. She has given up two today that I witnessed with 2 seconds remaining the opposing scorer throws up a high lob that goes over her head into the back corner of the goal. Just now, the final shot of the half was thrown from over half the length of the pool directly to the Cal goal and Fonseca jumped as high as she could and barely caught the ball with her fingertips. Perhaps I got spoiled by Isabel Williams, Cal's AA 6-3 GK, but she would never give up these types of goals. If I'm an opponent, I throw high shots towards the Cal goal because she cannot get up in the air to deflect them. I am not an expert of this subject but I can envision her giving up lots of easy goals this season. Another GK, E Hamilton, got up and deflected a couple of shots in the 4th quarter. A dozen Cal players dotted the scoreboard in this game. Impressive.

The FOSH - UC San Diego vs. California Live Stats

FINAL: Bears 24, Tritons 8.

Polodad said:

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Could be, but Wright and Klatt are really good.

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No one has done more with less than Natalie. Wright can recruit pretty much anyone he wants with the allure of the UCLA legacy and yet hasn't raised the trophy with the women while Klatt has been able to wave the USWNT team credentials about from the epicenter of HS and club polo while having the head of SoCal girls polo on his staff yet he hasn't been able to crack the top 3.

Benson has had her teams raided every year by the top teams and is still able to get her squad performing in the top 5-10 in the country while recruiting to Fresno.

Other than Tanner and Ortwein, no one holds a candle.

S71…I just discovered the answer on the missing players. Varro and Bogachenko are playing with their national teams at the World Aquatics Championships.

Polodad said:

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Two good TO's by Simmons in the last 2 minutes+. Great D by the Bears on the last FSU possession.

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Cal had scheduled a exhibition match for #5 Hawaii. Any results from this match? Also why is the Hawaii match and the next match vs Stanford exhibition matches?

Cal was a 17-9 'winner' of the exhibition with Hawaii. I'm thinking Hawaii was pre-season ranked too high. The crew of WP fans on Water Polo Exchange had Hawaii pre-season ranked 8/9. I have not figured out why a few of the early season games are exhibitions but has been the case for past 4 years. Best guess is coaches want to get the early experience without the risk of too many L's that would influence seeding for the UCI top 16 tourney in late Feb. The outcome at Irvine sets the ranking table well into conference season and that has some impact on At Large selections for the NC AA tourney.