Bears Chop Down Trees

Friday, September 29

Berkeley, CA

4:00 PM

California

(4-5 (1-2AE))

Stanford

(2-8 (0-4AE))

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Stanford	0	1	0	0	1
CAL	1	1	2	1	5

The Bears scored five times, twice by defender Cato Geusgens in the lopsided win over Stanford on Friday evening.

Photo by: ANDREW MADSEN

9/29/2023 7:03 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Cal Scores Five Times In Lopsided Win Over Visiting Stanford

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The Cal field hockey team scored five goals for just the third time in series history and finished with the third-largest margin of victory as the Golden Bears defeated visiting Stanford 5-1 on Friday afternoon at Underhill Field.

Graduate transfer Cato Geusgens notched her first goal as a Bear midway through the opening quarter to put Cal up 1-0. Her second goal on the final play of the first half gave the Bears all the offense they would need.

Cal (4-5, 1-2 America East) finished the evening with 19 shots – 15 on goal while allowing just eight shots by Stanford (2-8, 0-4 America East). The last time Cal scored five against Stanford came on October 11, 2003, the only other time it occurred came on November 5, 1992.

"Four quarters, that's what we asked for, not having any excuses at the end of the day and not getting complacent if we got up, so I'm very happy with tonight's results," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said. "My biggest challenge is getting them to do it again on Sunday."

Stanford briefly tied the game up with a goal by Gemma Townsend, her fourth of the year. Townsend scored in the 18th minute when Stanford created a turnover at midfield and Townsend scored on the fast break goal.

The two sides were locked into a 1-1 draw until the final play of the first half. Cal was awarded a penalty corner with one second left on the clock. Geusgens corralled a rebound off a shot from Baekers and fired it past Cardinal keeper Daisy Ford (1-6) for her second goal of the evening. Cal led 2-1 at halftime, with a 9-3 advantage in shots. Out of the break, the Bears attack continued to harass Stanford. Cal outshot its rival 10-5 in the second half.

Four minutes into the third quarter Merel Hanssen scored her first goal as a Bear to put Cal up 3-1. Daniella Rhodes and Bente Baekers scored a goal each to put the game away. The goal by Rhodes was her team-leading eighth of the year and 64th career goal. Baekers' goal which came midway through the fourth quarter, was her seventh of the year and 93rd of her career.

"It was pretty cool to have Cato get two goals," Onstead said. "Corners are really starting to come together and that's something we've been a focus for us. The whole forward line was tremendous today, we had a lot of good circle pens."

Sophie Everett recorded her team-leading fifth assist of the season on the goal by Hanssen. Holly Pears and Kitty Baccanello also had assists on the day. Keeper Tina Jolly (4-5) finished with three saves.

Cal will return to action on Sunday when they travel to Stanford to take on the Cardinal at Varsity Field Hockey Turf for a non-conference contest on Sunday at noon. Sunday's game will also be televised on Pac-12 Network.