CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (1-0, 0-0 PAC-12) AT LE MOYNE DOLPHINS (0-0, 0-0 NEC)
THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 2024 • 1 PM EST/10 AM PST
TED GRANT FIELD (SYRACUSE, NY)

CAL VISITS LE MOYNE TO BEGIN TWO-GAME EAST COAST TRIP 
— California takes on Le Moyne for the first time since 2007 on Thursday and is playing a road game against the Dolphins for the first time ever. The Golden Bears were winners the first two times the teams met, both in Berkeley, in 2004 (17-6) and 2007 (14-5).
— Thursday's forecast in Syracuse calls for intermittent clouds, a temperature of 34 degrees, and a 49% chance of precipitation, and winds from the south to southeast at eight miles per hour. The forecast changes to snow with a 61% chance of precipitation by 3 pm EST.
— Cal won five straight games played in the Eastern Time Zone from 2018-20 (UMass-Lowell, George Washington, Mount Saint Mary's, Mercer, Winthrop) before being swept at Navy and Virginia to open the 2022 season in its most recent visit to the East Coast.
— The contest at Le Moyne is part of a two-game road trip that concludes Saturday at Cornell.

LAST TIME OUT: CAL OPENS SEASON WITH 19-10 HOME WIN OVER AKRON 
— Cal's 19 goals were its most since a 20-10 home win over Saint Mary's on Apr. 7, 2017.
— Mya Wang led a total of 10 Golden Bears who scored goals with a career-high six and added an assist for a career-high seven points, while Kennedy Mason registered her third career hat trick and Kennedy Goss posted her first. Goss, who is Cal's all-time leader with 211 draw controls, also had a game-high nine against the Zips. Kate Rothman picked up a career-high-tying three assists.
— Cal scored the game's first seven goals and never trailed but Akron did cut the Bears' lead to 7-6, and trailed just 10-8 at halftime before Cal outscored the Zips in the second half, 9-2.
— Cal played all 28 players that suited up from its 33-player roster, including nine that made their Cal debuts.

YEAR TWO OF THE JENNIFER WONG ERA 
— Jennifer Wong became only the second Cal head coach to win back-to-back season openers when the Bears defeated Akron last Friday, 19-10. The only other to do it was Jill Malko, who accomplished the feat twice in her nine-season tenure by defeating Santa Clara (1999) and Regis (2000) in the first two seasons of the program and then Stanford (2006) and Canisius (2007) in her final two campaigns as head coach. Wong's squad won at Lindenwood in her Cal debut in 2023.
— The Bears improved their win total by three games in 2023 in Wong's first season at the helm, finishing 5-13 overall and with a 2-8 mark in the Pac-12 doubled their combined single league win from 2020-22.
— Cal also moved up one spot to No. 5 in the Pac-12 Championship seedings in Wong's first season in 2023 from the No. 6 position they had held each of the two previous campaigns.

ROSTER NOTES  
— Cal has turned over a third of its roster from 2023 with 22 players returning and 11 new faces on its 33-player roster in 2024. Mya Wang is Cal's top returning attacker from 2023 with her 13 assists a year ago leading the team, her 33 points tied for third and her 20 goals fourth. Kennedy Goss has moved to attacker for her fourth and final season in 2024 after spending her first three campaigns as a midfielder and draw specialist. Goss will continue in her draw specialist role. Simone Holland, who had her first career goal Friday against Akron, has also joined the attackers in 2024 after spending her first three campaigns as a defender. Cal returns 2023 part-time starter Alicia Souliotis and Chloe Rand in goal.
 
OTHER NOTABLES
— Cal is playing its sixth and final season in the Pac-12 before officially becoming members of the ACC on Aug. 2, 2024. The Pac-12 began sponsoring women's lacrosse in 2018. The league's 2020 schedule was canceled due to COVID. The Pac-12 added San Diego State and UC Davis to bring its total members for women's lacrosse to eight for the 2024 season and will play a single-round robin format for the first time after teams had faced each other in league games twice previously. 
— After its upcoming two-game road swing at Le Moyne and Cornell, Cal will have a five-game homestand from Feb. 23 - Mar. 12 that will be its longest stretch of consecutive regular-season home games since also playing five in a row at California Memorial Stadium from Mar. 3-16, 2017, as well as one shy of the school record of six straight at home to open the 2007 campaign (Feb. 22 - Mar. 15, 2007).
— Cal has started a season 2-0 or better just three times in the first 25 years of the program (3-0 in 1999 and 2007; 2-0 in 2002).