The Cal men’s soccer team is off to a hot start.
The Bears, who entered the season unranked nationally, opened their 2013 season by beating two top-five teams in just three days.
On Friday, Cal got goals from fifth-year senior Steve Birnbaum and junior midfielder Connor Hallisey to defeat Georgetown 2-0 in Berkeley. The Hoyas were ranked third in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s preseason poll.
And on Sunday, the Bears defeated the second-ranked University of Maryland 3-2 with a goal in the 97th minute by senior midfielder Alec Sundly.
“It was a start that we had hoped for,” said Cal head coach Kevin Grimes. “We worked very hard and diligently throughout preseason to put ourselves in a position to see if we could pull it off. And it looks like that is what happened.”
The match against Maryland was extra special for the team.
Last September, the Bears traveled to Maryland and were defeated 6-0 by the Terrapins. After only trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Bears gave up five goals in 25 minutes in the second half.
“I’m proud of the guys for really taking in what they did last year to this game,” said Sundly, one of three captains on the team. “It was a great win. ”
Last year’s loss against Maryland was the largest margin of defeat for the Bears all season. Overall, in 2012, Cal finished with an 8-7-3 record and was 3-5-2 in the Pac-12 conference.
Coming into this season, the Bears were picked to finish fourth out of six teams in the conference’s preseason poll.
But with two wins over solid opponents early in 2013, the team’s potential is apparent.
One major reason for the Bears’ early success is the return of Birnbaum to the center defender position. The 2011 all-conference first team selection was forced to redshirt last season due to injury, but like his team, he has gotten off to a strong start.
He currently leads the team with five points and two goals scored, which is somewhat surprising — Birnbaum only scored two goals in three seasons for the Bears coming into 2013.
“It is kind of like a fairy-tale start to my senior season,” Birnbaum said of collecting two goals in two games. “I am just really happy we got the wins.”
Birnbaum has also helped solidify Cal’s defense.
“When you have an experienced, older central back in college, the pros, whatever it might be, it just makes your whole defending unit so much more unified,” Grimes said.
Sundly agrees.
“It is really a huge impact on just myself and on the team,” Sundly said of having Birnbaum back. “The presence he brings on the pitch really does boost ever player five to 10 percent each game.”
On Tuesday, the Bears climbed to No. 10 nationally in the NSCAA rankings after their successful weekend. But as they found out, rankings do not mean much — especially early on.
Cal will now face its first road match of the season against the unranked University of San Francisco (2-0-0) team at 7 p.m. tonight at Negoesco Stadium.
Stephen Hobbs covers men’s water polo. Contact him at [email protected]