Oct. 26, 2002
Berkeley, Ca - Troy Roberts of California scored his first goal of the season at 42:00 of the first half as the 15th-ranked Golden Bears men's soccer team upset seventh-ranked Stanford, 1-0, in a Pac-10 game on Saturday at Goldman Field at Edwards Stadium.
Stanford's defense allowed the Golden Bears few scoring opportunitites in the first half. California produced only three shots, but one of them resulted in the game-winning goal. Noah Merl received a free kick from 25-yards away, and fired the ball to Roberts, who headed the ball past Cardinal goalkeeper Andrew Terris. The goal was the first given up by the Cardinal defense in the first half this year (16 games). It was also the first goal scored by California vs Stanford since 1998 (seven games).
The Cardinal had three excellent scoring chances within a five minute segment in the first half. Johanes Maliza fired a shot in front of the goal but was saved by Cal goalkeeper Josh Saunders at the 22-minute mark. Sixty seconds later, All-American Roger Levesque blasted a shot directly in front of the Cal net, but again Saunders fought off the attack. Then five minutes later, Matt Janusz shot a ball that skidded across Cal's goal area. A fourth shot eight minutes later by Kevin Coyne, again in front of the Cal goal, resulted in another save for Saunders.
"We were right around the goal almost the entire game," said Cardinal head coach Bret Simon. "We played well enough to win, but Cal is a good team."
Cal had a chance to increase its lead at the 58-minute mark with two direct shots in front of the Cardinal goal, but Stanford's defense smothered both opportunities.
At 59:20, Stanford's James Twellman put the ball into the Cal net, but Stanford was ruled offside resulting in no goal.
At the 71-minute mark, Levesque's header sailed into the hands of Saunders, Stanford's best chance at tying the game in the second half.
A final Stanford shot at 87 minutes sailed wide, and the Cardinal dropped its second straight Pac-10 game (2-2-1) and 11-3-1 overall. Cal is now 11-3-1 overall and atop the Pac-10 with 12 points (4-1-0). Stanford resides in third place with seven points.
Stanford will host California on Friday (11/1/02) at 7:30 p.m. at Harry Maloney Field.
Stanford (11-3-1, 2-2-1)00=0 California (11-3-1, 4-1-0)10=1
Goals
California, Roberts (Merl), 42:00
Saves
Terris (S), 5
Saunders (C), 4