BERKELEY - California returns to the Bay Area for a battle with No. 16 Stanford on The Farm on Friday, Sept. 20, at 2:30 p.m. in the America East Conference opener. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. The Golden Bears are looking to snap a four-game losing streak after winning their season opener.  
 
Cal is continuing a stretch of playing seven consecutive ranked opponents, five of which will be played away from Underhill Field. Friday's game will be Cal's fourth out of six to be played in the Bay Area, two at Underhill Field and two at Stanford (vs. Northwestern).  

Dalton Dazzles In The Cage
• Cal goalie Natalie Dalton set a career-high with 14 saves last Friday against No. 7 Iowa. She followed that performance with six stops vs. No. 2 Duke, giving her 20 saves for the weekend. With her average of 7.80 saves per game, Dalton ranks eighth in the NCAA rankings in that category. As a team, Cal ranks tied for seventh with an average of 8.60 saves per game.         

Bears All-Time Vs. Stanford
• Cal is 53-56-5 all-time vs. Stanford. The Cardinal have won the last three meetings. The last time the Bears beat Stanford was Oct. 15, 2017, a 4-2 win over the 14th-ranked Cardinal. That win was also the last time Cal beat a ranked opponent.     

Rodgers Gets First Two Goals Of 2019
• Megan Rodgers scored two of Cal's three goals last weekend vs. No. 7 Iowa and No. 2 Duke. After being held off the scoresheet for the first three games, Cal's leading scorer from 2018 tallied her first of the year on a penalty stroke against the Hawkeyes. The next day against the Blue Devils, she got the Bears on the board in the final minutes of the contest. She and Maddie Cleat are tied for the team lead in goals (2) and points (5). Rodgers ranks eighth in school history in career goals (32), one shy of seventh and two shy of sixth. She needs one point to crack the top 10 in career points.      

Backend Boost
• Head coach Shellie Onstead credited her backfielders - Yvie Lock, Femke Delissen, Brynn Zorilla, Jane Onners - for filling in for the injured Callie Rose Goodman and making second-half adjustments to keep No. 2 Duke off the scoreboard in the second half last Saturday. 

Sweet Cleat
• In the season opener against Quinnipiac, Maddie Cleat corralled a long downfield pass, juggled the ball on her stick with an emerging goalie coming in fast. She maintained possession and slapped a shot past the keeper to put the exclamation mark on Cal's 5-1 win. The play was the America East Conference's Geico Top Play of the Week. 

In Conference Openers
• Cal is 3-2 in conference openers since 2014. The last time the Bears won their conference opener was 2017, a 4-1 win over No. 24 Pacific.

Competitive Schedule
• Cal is navigating through a stretch of playing seven consecutive ranked opponents in the NFHCA's current Top-25 poll with No. 16 Stanford this Friday. Based on the NFHCA's preseason poll, Cal will face a total of nine ranked foes, including three in Berkeley starting with a 2-1 loss to No. 7 Michigan on Sept. 8 and upcoming matchups against No. 19 Syracuse and No. 16 Stanford). This isn't anything new for the Bears, though, as they had one of the nation's toughest schedules in 2018.  

Godfrid Headed To Cal Hall Of Fame
• Valentina Godfrid (2003-06), a first-team All-American who is the program's all-time leading scorer, has been elected into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame, part of the 34th class of inductees that will be enshrined the weekend of Nov. 8-9. Godfrid was a three-time NorPac Conference Player of the Year, as well as the league's Offensive Player of the Year her junior season. She led Cal to four consecutive conference titles and to three NCAA Tournament berths. Information on tickets to the HOF banquet can be found at bigcsociety.org.

Next Up
• Cal returns to the east coast to face two more ranked teams in No. 24 Penn State and No. 10 Delaware before wrapping up the road trip at Drexel.