Senior captain Steve Birnbaum stepped up to the penalty mark with the Cal men’s soccer team’s No. 1 ranking hanging in the balance. His Bears were down 2-1 with only 14 minutes remaining on the road against No. 6 UCLA. Earlier in the game, Birnbaum and his fellow center defender Read More…
Justin Taillole stared into his head coach’s eyes, trying to process what he heard. In the room was a round table and a few chairs. To Taillole’s right sat Cal coach Kevin Grimes. Across the table, goalkeeper coach Henry Foulk looked on. The Cal keeper tried to stay composed, meeting Read More…
For three years, the Washington men’s soccer team has utilized a flip throw. For three years, they have used this weapon freely. Teams know it’s coming, but that doesn’t mean they can stop it. “Everyone is aware of it,” said Cal coach Kevin Grimes. “Everyone they have played and everyone Read More…
One cut, a second and suddenly junior Max Oldham had the space he needed. With the ball at his feet in the 18-yard box late into the first frame of golden goal overtime on Friday night against Santa Clara, the second-half substitute made the play of the game. Fourteen yards Read More…
This weekend’s game between Cal (3-0-1) and Colgate (1-5-0) doesn’t have much for storylines, and the college soccer world expects the Bears to roll through the Raiders. This can be described only as a trap game, and head coach Kevin Grimes knows it. Read More…
With three minutes remaining in regulation, it was chaos in front of the Penn State net. In the 88th minute, Cal junior midfielder Connor Hallisey put a shot on net, but the Penn State defense cleared the ball off the goal line. Six seconds later, the scramble in the six-yard Read More…
When the whistle blows Friday night to signal the start of the match, every single Cal men’s soccer player suited up for the contest against Penn State will have a chance to make this week’s big play, or this week’s big stop, or this week’s overtime winner. In what has Read More…
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. Read More…
The sweat and the grind dominating the long summer days left the Cal men’s soccer team feeling more fit than ever before. Heading into offseason workouts, it was the team’s goal to forget the memory of the disappointing 2012 season, in which the Bears finished fourth in the Pac-12 and Read More…
Cal forward Alec Sundly ran toward the sideline, pumping his fist in celebration late Sunday afternoon in Edwards Stadium. His teammates, sprinting off the bench, mobbed the senior to the right of No. 2 Maryland’s goal. In the 97th minute of Cal’s matchup with the Terrapins, Cal defender Steve Birnbaum Read More…