CALIFORNIA LACROSSE GAME NOTES
California Golden Bears (4-6, 1-1 Pac-12) at No. 21 USC Trojans (8-3, 2-0 Pac-12)
Sunday, March 31, 2024 • Noon PDT
United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles, CA)

CAL AT NO. 21 USC ON EASTER SUNDAY 
— Cal heads into its game Sunday at USC having won three of its last four despite a 15-7 home loss to Colorado in its most recent contest. USC has won four of its last five including both of its Pac-12 contests vs. UC Davis and at Arizona State.
— USC leads the series, 16-1, and has won the last 16 meetings between the teams, including eight in a row in Los Angeles and a 2023 sweep with an 11-6 win in Berkeley followed by an 18-4 victory in LA. The lone Cal win in the series came the first time the squads played on April 12, 2013, in Los Angeles.
— Cal nearly ended what was then an 11-game USC series win streak in Los Angeles on April 16, 2021, scoring twice in the final minute of regulation to send the contest into overtime before falling, 12-11.
— Sunday's forecast in Los Angeles is calling for rain, a 55% chance of precipitation, a temperature of 59 degrees at first draw, and winds from the southeast at eight miles per hour.
— This will be the first time Cal has played lacrosse at the Coliseum and the ninth for USC, who first played there against Northwestern (Feb. 9, 2013) and most recently vs. Arizona State (Mar. 25, 2022). 

LAST TIME OUT: CAL DROPS FIRST PAC-12 HOME GAME TO NO. 20 COLORADO
— Cal had a three-game win streak snapped March 23 by dropping its first Pac-12 home game of the season to No. 20 Colorado, 15-7. The Golden Bears started and finished the game strong with the first two goals of the contest and all three in the fourth quarter but the Buffaloes dominated in between with 15 of the game's other 17 goals.
— The teams combined for 47 turnovers with the Bears committing a season-high 26 and Colorado 21.
— A total of 49 players played in the contest (Colorado 26, Cal 23).
— The game featured 15 player cards (Cal 8, Colorado 7) including three yellows (Cal 2, Colorado 1).

NATIONALLY RANKED OPPONENTS    
— No. 21 USC is the second of three nationally ranked opponents on Cal's schedule over the Golden Bears' final six regular-season games. The first of the three was last Saturday against then No. 20/now No. 22 Colorado and the final one is scheduled at current No. 20 Stanford in the regular-season finale for both teams Apr. 27 on The Farm. 

RECENT WIN STREAK
— Cal's recent three-game win streak (March 6-16) was its longest since a four-gamer from Feb. 22-March 8, 2019. The streak started with back-to-back home victories against Winthrop (March 10) and Butler (March 12) before a dramatic comeback victory in the Bears' Pac-12 opener at Oregon (March 16) when Kennedy Mason took a pass in front of the net from Josie Lillquist and slammed it home with six seconds remaining.
— During the three-game win streak, Cal allowed a total of just 18 goals for an average of 6.00 per contest and no more than eight in any of the three games. The three straight games of eight or less opponent goals marked the first time the Bears had accomplished that feat since a three-game stretch from April 18-25, 2010.
 
THAT DEFENSE
— Cal ranks third in the Pac-12 and tied for 23rd nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 9.80 goals per game. The Bears have given up more than 10 goals only twice in a 13-7 defeat at Cornell and a 15-7 home loss to No. 20 Colorado. 
— Goalkeeper Callan Fritsch, a fifth-year senior transfer from Drexel, is second in the Pac-12 in save percentage with a .474 mark that is 23rd nationally. Fritsch also ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in both goals against average (10.09) and saves (65).

DOMINATING DRAW CONTROL
— Cal has dominated draw controls this season with a .623 draw control percentage that leads the Pac-12 and is tied for seventh nationally. The Bears have won the draw control battle in nine of 10 games. Kennedy Goss leads the way with 50. Goss is both Cal's all-time leader (252) and single-season record-holder (83, 2023). She ranks fourth in the Pac-12 and tied for 40th nationally this year. 

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