Cal vs. No. 17 Stanford
BERKELEY --Â The Golden Bears battle for pole position in the America East conference's West Division when Bay Area rival Stanford comes to town Friday. With wins in each of their conference openers, the Bears and Cardinal look to improve to 2-0 at 6 p.m. on Underhill Field.
Cal went 2-6 in its nonconference campaign but opened America East action with a decisive 5-1 victory over UC Davis. It was also Cal's first win in its new home at Underhill Field. The Bears will face all AE West Division opponents twice this season. The Cardinal were picked to repeat as division champions and currently rank 17th in the nation.
Live stats will be available via CalBears.com. Follow @CalFieldHockey on Instagram and Facebook.com/CalFH for a behind-the-scenes look at gameday and more.
FAST FACTS
• Eight different Bears got on the stat sheet in the America East opener vs. UC Davis. All five goals came from different Bears, and four players tallied an assist.
Keats Iwanaga led with three points on one goal and one assist.
• Cal's win over Stanford on Sept. 18 last season was its first win over the Cardinal since the 2011. The Bears won 2-1 with a golden goal in overtime, scored by
Sydney Earle.
• Cal's last regular-season home win over Stanford was Sept. 27, 2009. The Bears edged the Cardinal 4-3.
• Prior to last season's win at Stanford, the Bears dropped seven consecutive games to the Cardinal.
• Both the Bears and Cardinal have scored 16 goals this season.
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SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
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Last Meeting: L, 4-0, on Oct. 18, 2016
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Series: Cal leads, 52-50-5
• Stanford has seen goals from seven different players, with six of those players notching two or more goals so far this season.
• Sarah Helgeson leads the Cardinal in points with nine on three goals and three assists.
• Jessica Welch owns a team-high four goals.
• Caroline Beaudoin has a defensive save for Stanford this season.
• Kelsey Bing has started all nine games in the cage for Stanford with a slim 1.25 goals against average, allowing 11 goals with 35 saves.
• Goalkeeper Maddy Belin has allowed one goal in 35 minutes of action this season.
ONSTEAD ON THE WEEK AHEAD
On what team has worked on:
"We worked a lot on midfield possession last week week. I put the attacking midfielders to task at practice and they responded pretty well. We were down a pretty key player with Lindsay (Mathison) out against UC Davis, so we were really happy that their posession improved and everybody stepped up."
On recent offensive surge:
"Any season, you're trying to put certain building blocks in place. We were really focusing early in the season on getting our defense in place. We had some young players in there. Now, we're addressing more of the attack and we're seeing the results of that."
On Stanford matchup:
"Stanford has a lot of pace. They are well-experienced so they won't make mistakes under pressure as easily as some teams. We just have to stay on task and go with the ebb and flow. I think it will be very close and close-contested."
"My biggest concern with Stanford is being too overamped. They're so excited. Everybody's making a real concerted effort to get ready. We didn't take Davis lightly and that's the sign that things are coming together. We're preparing for a tremendous atmosphere."
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMPS
Sophomores
Melina Moore and
Janaye Sakkas are showing no signs of a second-year slump so far. Both were among Cal's top three point-getters in 2015, and the trend has continued in 2016. Sakkas and Moore are the top two point-getters for the Bears this season, respectively. Fellow sophomore
Katrina Carter, who redshirted as a freshman to recover from injury, is third among the squad in points with two goals and two assists in her first competition season.
NEXT UP
The Bears head to the East Coast for the first-ever America East regular-season contests at Vermont and Maine. The weekend opens against Vermont on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 8 a.m. PT, followed by Maine on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 a.m. PT.
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