Men’s soccer
Last season, the men’s soccer team missed its second consecutive postseason. While the men were stuck in Berkeley, the women’s soccer team traveled to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in seven years.
It would be easy to think this fact alone indicates the direction of the two programs. While the women’s soccer team inches closer and closer to finally breaking out of the second round of the NCAAs, the men seemed to be stuck in a rebuilding phase.
Don’t judge too quickly.
In 2013, the women’s team has high expectations and plans to take a big step forward, but the men of Cal soccer will take an even bigger step this year.
The men’s squad benefits from having low expectations going into the season. Nobody expected it to make the NCAAs, and nobody expected it to escape the bottom three of the six-team Pac-12 conference.
Nobody saw the squad coming, including two of the nation’s top teams.
On Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, the Bears shocked the college soccer world with upsets against No. 3 Georgetown and No. 2 Maryland at home.
Cal didn’t just silence its critics; it slammed the door on them.
The Bears were for real, and the coaches took notice. In the next release of the rankings following the victories, the Bears jumped from unranked to No. 5 in the country. And just like that, the squad was ranked higher than its female counterpart.
If two major upsets and a higher national ranking fail to convince the Cal community that the men are better this year, one only has to look at the men’s balance across the field.
Leading the way for the Bears thus far is senior Steve Birnbaum. The defender was a preseason all-American last year before a knee injury derailed his 2013 campaign. But now, Birnbaum is back and making an impact.
Using his big frame in the two upsets, Birnbaum came up on offensive corner kicks and put his head on the end of many centering balls. With goals against both Georgetown and Maryland, the defender already leads the team in points, with five.
A defender leading the team in scoring may seem like a failure of the offense, but in fact all it means for this season’s squad is that anyone on the field is capable of scoring at any time.
Against the Terrapins, senior Alec Sundly tapped in the game-winner in overtime. Against San Francisco, it was a freshman, Christian Thierjung, who played the hero by scoring 19 seconds before the regulation whistle sounded. The Bears have scored six goals through three games, but five different people have scored.
The defense looks improved from last year, which is a big statement, considering the 2012 unit conceded only 1.56 goals per game. Birnbaum presence is reassuring, but the emergence of junior Christian Dean as a solid center back has been revolutionary.
Dean is playing sweeper for the first time in his Cal career, but his learning curve has been steep. He has committed a few early-season mistakes, but those wrinkles are only going to be ironed out as the season progresses. He is extremely athletic and has the speed to keep up with some of the fastest players in the collegiate game.
The fact that the Bears were able to beat two 2012 NCAA semifinalists with a new center defender speaks to the talent of this year’s team. Cal is going to go far, and it’s time the men reclaimed the title as the better soccer squad in Berkeley.
— Austin Crochetiere
Women’s soccer
In a battle between the Cal men’s and women’s soccer teams, the men win. At least on paper. At least right now.
The men are ranked among the top five teams in the nation. The women are not. The men beat two top-five teams already this season. The women did not.
After beating then-No. 3 Georgetown and then-No. 2 Maryland in the first two games of the season, the then-unranked men’s squad was rewarded with the No. 4 spot in the Soccer America poll and the No. 10 spot in the NSCAA poll. Since then, the team has remained perfect and currently boasts No. 3 and No. 5 rankings from Soccer America and NSCAA, respectively, as it heads into its fourth game of the season Friday.
The women, on the other hand, are approaching their seventh game of the season. Although they have not had quite as explosive a start as the men, they boast a respectable record (5-0-1) and ranking nonetheless. The squad remains undefeated through the first six games of the season and holds the No. 14 rank in the NSCAA poll. The women’s squad has shown consistency through season’s first few weeks, but it has not yet shown flat-out dominance.
Therefore, the men win this round. It is as simple as that.
However, the season is young, and that victory stands only in the scope of this particular moment in time.
The reason the women have not proven their dominance is that they have not had the opportunity to do so. The men astounded the soccer world when they took down the Hoyas and the Terrapins. They started their season with a bang, upsetting two squads that were clear favorites. In contrast, the women were the favorites in each of their games. The squad has not faced any top-25 teams and has not been an underdog in any of its matchups. The women have not had the opportunity to stun, shock or amaze. But that does not mean they won’t.
The women’s team lost only four seniors from last year’s group, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Of those four, two were starters. Though Olympian midfielder Betsy Hassett and fast-footed forward Lauren Battung were key facets of last year’s team, their successors have plenty of experience of their own. Simply put, the women’s squad is composed of adept seniors who are looking to build on the great success they found last year and produce a triumphant season.
The women have a lot of season left to show us what they can do, and with a team of battle-tested veterans and with formidable foes to face, they just may steal the spotlight from the men. That is not intended to diminish the achievements of the men’s squad. The men have had fantastic success thus far in the season. Nevertheless, do not assume the men are the sole dominant soccer force on the Cal campus.
The men may win this battle, but don’t count the women out of the war.
— Taylor Brink
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