Oct. 29, 2000

BERKELEY - Hecklers, Cal fight songs blaring in the back ground, a throng of Cal and Stanford fans cheering their respective teams. All the ingredients were there for the field hockey version of The Big Game.

California (10-4, 5-0 in NorPac) edged out rival Stanford, 2-1, Sunday afternoon as the Bears finished off their regular season schedule on Senior Day.

Stanford (9-10, 4-2 in NorPac) jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 6:55 of the first half as Sophomore Amrit Chima scored on a penalty corner on an assist from Melissa Stai.

After a quiet first period, Cal thundered out of halftime with more aggression and a smoother and relaxed offense.

Pooja Mehta scored the equalizer for Cal at 31:41 of the second period. The Bears were limited to only two shots on goal before Mehta put Cal on the board.

With the game knotted up at 1-1, both teams looked to capitalize on a corner to take the lead. The Bears succeeded on their sixth and what turned out to be their last attempt on a penalty corner. Leslie Katch and Elizabeth Harkins assisted on Erin Robinson's third goal of the season to go up, 2-1.

Stanford opened up the game very aggressively. The Cardinal challenged every ball and succeeded in pushing Cal back on its heels, controlling the tempo of the game in the first half.

"It felt like we were just getting on track when the half came, so we just encouraged them to stay in that mode and just play with confidence and understand that we were the better team," said coach Shellie Onstead.

"I think early in the first half they were playing a little scared, but they got on track and they started playing with confidence and trusting each other."

Cal keeper Sarah Hoehn made up for the sluggishness in the first period as she snuffed a breakaway attempt by Stanford's Erica Swesey while running out 20 yards to make the save.

Harkins tallied up a team-high, eighth assist of the year, while Katch remained the scoring leader with an assist.

Cal now heads to the NorPac Tournament from Nov. 2-4 in St. Louis, MO. The Bears are the No. 1 seed and receives a bye in the first round. Cal faces the winner of Davidson and Pacific on Friday at 12:30 p.m. (CST).

Field Hockey Result
Kleeberger Field, Berkeley, CA
Stanford	  1  0   - 1
California	  0  2   - 2

Scoring:
First Half
S - Amrit Chima 6:55 (Stai)
Second Half
C - Pooja Mehta 31:41 (Harkins)
C - Erin Robinson 15:51 (Harkins, Katch)

Shots:	Stanford   11
        California 5

Records:  Stanford    9-10 (4-2 in NorPac)
 	  California  10-4 (5-0 in NorPac)