Bears Suffer First Defeat

After weeks of hiding in obscurity, the Cal men's soccer team's offense finally awoke for yesterday's non-conference game against Michigan State.

The Bears piled four goals on an overmatched Spartans defense to win the game, 4-1, and erase the stinging memories a 1-0 loss to Loyola Marymount Friday.

Cal forward Ramiro Arredondo did the most damage Sunday, netting three goals in the win.

"I thought we played well," the junior said. "We did what coach (Mark Mallon) wanted us to do. The general idea was to shoot more."

With his three goals, Arredondo matched his career total for goals during his previous two seasons at Cal. Arredondo leads the team in scoring, with 10 points on five goals.

"I'm very happy with the way our guys played," Mallon said. "We spent yesterday working on one-touch play, and that's what we did (today). It generated some goals."

Cal (4-1-1, 0-0-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) jumped on the board during the first half against MSU when forward Ryan Fitzpatrick headed a cross from midfielder Chris Roner past Spartans goalkeeper Tim Lieckfelt.

Lieckfelt had come out to intercept the cross, but Fitzpatrick outbattled him for the ball and played it into the empty net.

The rest of the Bears goals came in the second half from Arredondo. His first tally of the day resulted from a Spartan turnover in their own penalty box that Arredondo found and pounded past the keeper.

He scored his next two on the rush, beating the Spartans goalkeeper one-on-one. Arredondo was first fed a long ball from the Cal midfield that he quickly turned into a 3-0 lead. Freshman J.T. Thorpe then played a backheel to Arredondo for his final goal.

Michigan State netted its only goal of the game just after Arredondo made the score 3-0, converting on a two-on-one play just seconds after the Bears' score.

Cal's offensive output on Sunday matched its goal total for its previous five games. A big reason for the high scoring was the Bears' ability to convert some of their offensive chances.

"We've been actually working on our finishing a lot all year," Mallon said. "Hopefully that part will sort itself out."

Cal couldn't finish on Friday, when it struggled against LMU. The Lions - who improved to 4-2 on the season - scored in the 86th minute when midfielder Andres Murriagui pounded a shot from inside the Cal penalty box off the far post and into the back of the net.

The Bears couldn't score in a frantic four-minute effort that saw a good save from LMU goalkeeper Jerad Bailey, which prevented Cal from remaining unbeaten on the season.

"Some games you play an inferior opponent and you lose anyway," Cal goalkeeper Doug Brooks said. "It happens to every team every single year."

Cal mustered just eight shots against LMU, while Brooks faced 17 and was forced to make a season-high seven saves.

"We felt like we started off the first 10 minutes playing really well," Mallon said. "Then we lost our focus and started knocking the ball long."

The Bears played over the most of the weekend without the services of quality midfielder John Macdonald. The senior saw limited playing time against LMU and didn't play at all against the Spartans due to an ankle sprain.

Cal also was forced to make do without defender Derrick Dyslin, who remained on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Both players should be healthy by next weekend's road trip to the St. Mary's Invitational, where the Bears expect their recent scoring propensity to carry over.

"I think it's a great thing to score four goals," Brooks said. "We came out and we played very well. Things are looking bright for next weekend."

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