March 13, 2010

Box Score

BERKELEY - California played toe to toe with 11th-ranked Notre Dame on a sunny Saturday at Memorial Stadium, and the Golden Bears led most of the first half. But late in the second period, Cal held a 10-7 lead it could not hold. The Irish forged a 10-10 tie to send the game into overtime and eventually topped the Bears, 14-12. Cal's Allie Welsh led all scorers with eight points (4 goals, 4 assists), while junior goalkeeper Allie Shropshire made 11 saves for the Bears.

"I'm very proud of the team for their effort," Cal head coach Theresa Sherry said. "We played almost a full game at the level we're capable of. We just weren't able to finish today. But I was happy with how hard we fought and how hard we executed at the end of the field.

"Allie Shropshire's leadership this week and her play today really boosted the team. She was a vocal presence all week at practice and before the game, pumping the team up. She had a stellar performance in the cage, really giving us more chances to get the ball back. That was huge for us.

"Allie Welsh was a big part of our attack, making the changes she needed to from earlier games, taking care of the ball down at that end and actually finishing."

The young Cal team had faced two previous opponents that were nationally ranked and lost by double-digit deficits. Today, national rankings and what was a 0-6 record in the all-time series with Notre Dame didn't matter much.

"At the beginning of the season, our players would stray quite often from the game plan," Sherry said. "Now they're buying into the game plan, and they're working harder at practice to make a change. And I think they finally realize they're very good. We were able to disrupt a lot of Notre Dame's plays today, and we had good matchups with some of their top scorers. That combination has really helped everybody to keep fighting."

Shaylyn Blaney led the Irish with four goals, while Kailene Abt led Notre Dame in points (5) and assists (3).

The Irish took a 2-0 lead in less than a minute, as Blaney (00:22) and Maggie Tamasitis (00:33) scored for Notre Dame.

But the Bears scored the next two goals - sophomore attacker Tara Arolla scored unassisted (3:08) and Welsh converted an eight-meter goal (4:02) - to tie the game at 2-2.

Ansley Stewart scored at 7:02 to give the Irish a 3-2 lead.

Cal then went on a 4-0 run, with two goals by senior midfielder Alyse Kennedy (eight-meter goal at 15:30 and unassisted goal at 20:13) and one each by Welsh (19:47) and Arolla (20:57), to claim a 6-3 lead.

Jackie Doherty converted an eight-meter shot at 21:45 and Abt scored with 33 seconds left in the half, and Cal took a 6-5 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Bears built their 10-7 lead on goals by Arolla (31:18), sophomore midfielder Lauren Johnson (42:12), Welsh (42:55) and Kennedy (46:08).

But Abt scored at 50:08 and Blaney scored twice (52:36 and 52:56) to knot the score at 10-10.

Both teams had one more shot - Arolla's eight-meter attempt was saved at 54:34 and Blaney shot wide at 55:37 - before regulation ended with the game tied.

After not scoring for more than seven minutes at the end of regulation, Notre Dame got on the board quickly in overtime. Tamasitis (61:21) and Jenny Granger (61:42) scored less than two minutes into the extra period to give the Irish a 12-10 lead.

Welsh then powered Cal's comeback, assisting on junior midfielder Emily Abbood's goal at 62:25 and then scoring her final goal of the match at 64:07 to tie the game at 12-12.

But Abt set up the go-ahead goal by Stewart at 64:26. Notre Dame's Gina Scioscia converted an unassisted goal at 65:56 to make the final score 14-12.

"I do think this helps our confidence," Sherry said. "We have to come out and continue to work hard every day. Hopefully we can finish opponents off starting next weekend."

Cal embarks on a four-game road trip starting next week, when the Bears travel to the state of Connecticut to play at Quinnipiac on March 19 and at Fairfield on March 21.

GAME SUMMARY

	         1	2	OT	F
Notre Dame	5	5	4	14
California	6	4	2	12

Notre Dame Scoring
Goals: Shaylyn Blaney 4; Kailene Abt 2; Maggie Tamasitis 2; Gina Scioscia 2; Ansley Stewart 2; Jackie Doherty 1; Jenny Granger 1. Assists: Kailene Abt 3; Kaitlin Keena 2; Megan Sullivan 1; Maggie Tamasitis 1.

California Scoring
Goals: Allie Welsh 4; Alyse Kennedy 3; Tara Arolla 3; Lauren Johnson 1; Emily Abbood 1. Assists: Allie Welsh 4; Lauren Johnson 1; Alyse Kennedy 1.

Goalkeeping
Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling, 5 saves, 12 GA, 66:00. California: Allie Shropshire, 11 saves, 14 GA, 66:00.

Att.: 202.