Kore Chan/File

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 Christian Dean had made costly mistakes that resulted in two Bruin goals. He needed to make up for his mistake — he wanted this shot.

“We have several guys who can take penalties, but Steve was dialed in,” said coach Kevin Grimes.

The captain calmly stepped up to the ball and struck it hard and true, center right and past the UCLA keeper. Just like that, the game was tied 2-2.

The Bruins were shocked, having dominated possession throughout the game. The Bears took the momentum and ran with it, scoring 32 seconds into the golden-goal overtime off the foot of forward Stefano Bonomo, escaping Westwood with the huge 3-2 win.

“Our players showed their heart today,” Grimes said. “They have the ability to overcome odds which don’t look so great in the moment.”

The scoring began in the 13th minute when UCLA (7-3-1, 2-1-0) exploited the first big mistake by the Cal defense. Birnbaum and Dean lost their marks on a UCLA cross, allowing Bruin Victor Chavez to slip right in front of the six-yard box. Chavez flicked the ball past the outstretched arms of keeper Justin Taillole, and for the second time in two games, the Bears (9-0-2, 3-0-1) found themselves behind first.

“We had yet to realize what they were doing,” Grimes said. “We had to keep tighter on our men.”

A mere five minutes later, Dean stepped up to a free kick outside the 18-yard box and scored off a deflection.

Despite being tied at 1-1, UCLA controlled the pace of play in the first frame and delivered a huge blow three minutes before halftime. Another miscommunication on the back line left a wide-open Bruin a mere two yards away from the goal, putting UCLA back up by one.

The start of the second half looked identical to the end of the first, with UCLA dominating possession and forcing the Bears to chase more than attack.

In the 75th minute, Christian Dean made the game-changing play to set up the Birnbaum penalty. Singlehandedly, Dean ran from the left back position, beat multiple defenders one on one and powered a shot on net. Although it was blocked, it created a corner kick during which the Bruins were penalized for a handball, awarding Cal a penalty kick.

Birnbaum executed under pressure, and the score was tied.

The overtime period ended just as quickly as it began. Midfielder Connor Hallisey, who had been subbed out early in the game, took a ball wide and saw Bonomo streaking toward the net. Hallisey delivered a low cross, and Bonomo pushed the golden goal past the UCLA keeper, giving Cal its third overtime win this season.

On the verge of a huge upset, the Bruins were suddenly watching the Bears mob Bonomo, thinking back to the handball penalty that flipped the game upside down. In a game in which UCLA took advantage of Cal’s massive defensive breakdowns, Cal’s two impact players, Dean and Birnbaum, put the Bears on their back.

“(Dean and Birnbaum) were not happy with the two goals, but they came back in a big way today,” Grimes said.

Austin Crochetiere covers men’s soccer. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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Carlos Caseres/Staff

Since 2002, either Cal or UCLA has come home with the Pac-12 men’s soccer title. This Sunday, the two teams meet for the first time this season in a game that could be a real indicator of the eventual league outcome.

The Pac-12 conference is heating up as the No.1 Cal men’s soccer team (7-0-2, 1-0-1 Pac-12) plays the reigning champion and preseason favorite, UCLA (6-2-1, 1-0-0 Pac-12).

UCLA is a formidable opponent, and the program’s success in the conference to date emphasizes this point. The Bruins have the record number of titles so far, with eight compared to second-place Cal’s three.

Second in goals and points for the Bears, striker Stefano Bonomo is all too aware of what Cal needs to do to beat this strong team — score goals.

The two sides are relatively equal when it comes to this crucial aspect of the game. Cal defender Steve Birnbaum and UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz are tied in points (13) and points per game (1.44) in the conference. Birnbaum just takes the edge in goals, with six compared to Stolz’s five. The Bears will hope it is this statistic that makes all the difference Sunday.

“They’ve got some clever and some tricky players in attack, and they are also a team that are good in their set pieces,” said head coach Kevin Grimes.

The defensive strength of UCLA is a large part of its game. Four opponents were unable to register a goal against the Bruins. Junior goalkeeper Earl Edwards has played every minute of the season and will no doubt be using this game experience to try to block the Cal attack.

Cal will be playing away Sunday, but if history is anything to go by, this should not be a problem for the traveling Bears. The team had a better result on the road against UCLA last season, reaching a 1-1 draw when playing in Drake Stadium while the home tie ended in a 3-1 defeat.

Grimes is concentrating on Cal’s own game plan, however, and not letting the location of the match affect this.

“We like to do what we do best and really focus on ourselves,” Grimes said.

Unbeaten so far, the Bears are looking to continue this streak and use their current form to gain the upper hand over their age-old rivals.

“We’re looking to go in there and outwork them and outprepare them, and hopefully we can pick up that W,” Grimes said.

Daniella Mogilner covers men’s soccer. Contact her at dmogilner@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/File

The Bears hit the road this week in a bid to extend their Pac-12 success.

An unbeaten Cal men’s soccer team (7-0-2, 1-0-1 Pac-12) continues its Pac-12 story with its first conference away game, against San Diego State (3-5-0, 0-1-0 Pac-12), on Thursday. San Diego has yet to record a win in the league, but with a contentious game against No. 5 UCLA that could have gone either way, the squad is by no means a pushover.

The Aztecs’ average record does not tell the whole story of their season. They have been unlucky so far, with a total of three games reaching overtime. Two of those were lost in the closing minutes. Their most recent Pac-12 match, against the Bruins, is an example of the potential threat this team can pose to some of the strongest in the league: They were leading UCLA 1-0 until the 75th minute.

The strength of this San Diego State team may also lie in its experience — 10 of its players are seniors, compared with the Bears’ five. It is these veterans who hold the balance of power within the team: Senior midfielder Abraham Villon leads the stats in goals scored, midfield seniors Blake Wyse and Kody Duff have the highest assist totals and senior goalkeeper Blake Hylen has recorded the most saves, with a percentage of .727.

“Having an older team is always a danger, because they know what to expect,” said Cal defender Steve Birnbaum.

Like Cal, the Aztecs appear to have had trouble finishing. They have an average of 13.6 shots per game, but their goal rate per game is just 1.75. If they can start to complete the positions they have created, however, they could be a real danger for this young Cal team.

An additional concern for the team is the location of the match, as the Bears have a less impressive away record. One of their only nonvictories came from an away draw in Pennsylvania, and their match against San Francisco was a close affair, with a late goal in the final minutes proving the decider between the two teams.

Birnbaum is aware of the danger an away game at San Diego State can pose.

“It’s always hard to play there — their field is a little different than ours,” he said.

But head coach Kevin Grimes is optimistic that the team will continue to play according to its plan, whether home or away.

“The other two away games, we played our same system and our same style,” he said. “We really don’t make too many adjustments for the opponent.”

The previous meet-up between these teams ended in a defeat for Cal on the road by a 2-1 scoreline, a shocking result, considering San Diego State’s last-place position at the time. Even in victory, the competition was fierce for the Bears last year, with a golden goal in double-overtime being the lone score in a closely contested battle.

The facts and figures may imply that Thursday’s game will be a relatively easy one for the Bears, but past experience has shown the numbers do not always equate. An experienced Aztec team at home, winless or not, is a threat Cal should not underestimate.

Daniella Mogilner covers men’s soccer. Contact her at dmogilner@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/Staff

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 the faces of the two coaches who had once traveled 500 miles to see him play and recruit him.

Three years, and Taillole had yet to play a single collegiate game, record a single save or make any impact on the Cal program.

But his shortcoming was no fault of his own. The reason: injury after injury. Career-threatening injuries, mild injuries. Injuries requiring surgeries, injuries requiring patience.

Grimes leaned across the table and told Taillole they understood his path had been difficult. He paused, and then it came: the ultimatum.

“You are healthy now, so you need to find your way back to your top form or your career is going to end soon,” Grimes said.

There was a brief moment of silence as the words sank in.

Taillole had been thinking it, but Grimes put into words the keeper’s worst fears. It was spring 2013. Justin was in his third year of eligibility and at the bottom of the depth chart.

“I was thinking this could be it,” Taillole says.

But that was not the end — far from it. It was a rebirth, a fresh start. For a kid who had been battered by injuries, his time was just about to begin.

In a summer club game in 2009, after committing to Cal, Taillole came out on a breakaway. An attacker dribbled wide, blasting a shot that caught Taillole off guard and forced him into a sudden dive. There was a deafening pop.

Torn ACL, torn meniscus and MCL strain.

A few days later, Taillole went under the knife, and the long road back began.

When Taillole arrived on the Cal campus for his freshman year in 2010, the learning curve was steep: He had to adjust to Division I soccer with a massive knee brace.

One day, he was doing a drill when a shot caught his pinkie. Although it hurt, the trainer did not think much of it, and so Taillole followed suit. The pain failed to subside, however, and Taillole agreed to an X-ray.

Broken pinkie, bone twisted out of place.

Inserted pins could not help reshape the finger, leaving the keeper with a permanently misshapen pinkie. His freshman year went down the drain, and Taillole was forced to cash in on his redshirt.

During his sophomore campaign, Taillole returned to campus almost back to his top form. His ACL was a distant memory, and although his pinkie was still a reminder of his freshman-year injury, he was ready to finally make that jump up the depth chart.

But five minutes into his first-ever appearance in a Cal uniform vs. Cal Poly, the Mustangs played a through ball, forcing Taillole to come off his line. Taillole took one step and heard the sound he hoped would never fill his ears again: a pop.

Although concerned, the keeper was able to play the remaining 30 minutes with only minor discomfort. The next day, Taillole felt unbearable pain. He went to the trainers and awaited the results.

During a pregame meal, the team trainer walked in and tapped Taillole on the shoulder. Taillole was told to follow him upstairs, completely in the dark as to what was happening. The trainer rummaged around a little bit in his office and finally pulled out a massive protective boot.

“I thought, ‘Seriously, again?,” says Taillole.

Right leg, Lisfranc, one of the metatarsal bones displaced from connecting foot bones, career-threatening.

After rehabbing the rare Lisfranc injury, Taillole finished off the spring at the top of the keeper depth chart. He was playing increased minutes in every spring exhibition and, once again, felt like he had put his injury-plagued past behind him.

Going into his junior year, he could almost taste that first collegiate start he had been vying for since the moment he arrived in Berkeley. But during a shooting drill, a ball caught Taillole’s thumb and ripped it backward.

Sprained thumb muscles, three-week recovery.

The injury could not have been timed any worse. Taillole plummeted down the depth chart and found himself right back where he began his Cal career: at the bottom. He did not reappear in his junior season.

Then, in the spring of 2013, Taillole took a ball to the back of the head and then four weeks later a kick to his eye.

Concussion and nine stitches above the eye.

These latest setbacks lacked the severity of the ACL or Lisfranc injuries, but they were the most painful for Taillole. During his recovery, competing keepers such as Kevin Peach saw their stock skyrocket.

Even worse, Taillole had failed to regain his Arizona Gatorade National Player of the Year form. A kid who had been on top of the world had fallen from grace due to his injuries, and they were starting to get the best of him.

“My morale was shot,” Taillole says. “I got down on myself down. I can’t get back in — well, too bad. I was angry, and I got thrown into a downward spiral.”

And then the meeting with Grimes and Foulk happened, and Taillole was at a pivotal crossroads. He had to decide to either call it a career or endure.

“At that moment, it clicked,” Taillole says. “What have I been doing with all my years here? I took a step back and looked and all that had happened to me. That’s when my mental game took over.”

This past summer, the men’s soccer team stayed in Berkeley to train. Every single player put in the work, but Taillole was a man possessed. He was dedicated to proving to his coaches that he belonged on the squad and went above and beyond the call of duty.

His hands were a problem, so he went and worked on his hands. He spent days staring down a tennis ball shooter, hours volleying and catching a ball off a wall at Edwards Stadium.

When the season rolled around, Taillole knew it was now or never. On the night before the season opener against  No. 3 Georgetown, he approached Foulk.

“I told him I thought I should be playing, I told him I was ready and I was expecting a call from him that night,” Taillole says.

The next day, Taillole ran out to his net, the whistle blew and the journey to his first collegiate start was finally over. He had not only survived a stretch that could best even the strongest — he had come out and taken life by the reins.

“He had to weather the storm of adversity,” Grimes says. “The ones that do that the best when they come out the other side; the sky’s the limit at that point.”

Now, Taillole is solidly the first-string keeper for the top-ranked Bears. Every day, his confidence grows, and with him on the back line, the Bears are already looking to the postseason and a return to the Elite Eight.

“When things aren’t going great, if you make a good save, you need to congratulate yourself,” Taillole says. “I was not doing that back then. Now that I am older, I see it’s all a mental game.”

Austin Crochetiere covers men’s soccer. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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Carlos Caseres/Staff

A contest was promised, and a contest was delivered.

It was a much anticipated head-to-head: No. 1 Cal men’s soccer team(7-0-2, 1-0-1 Pac-12) vs. No. 3 Washington (7-0-3, 1-0-1 Pac-12).

The game proved to be just as competitive as the stats suggest — a clash of titans that was ultimately too close to call, with the game finishing in a 1-1 tie.

“They’re a physical team, and it’s always a battle with them,” said Cal’s Connor Hallisey, who scored the Bears’ lone goal.

 The high ranking of both teams promised a fast-paced game of soccer, and both teams brought their A-game, the low scoreline demonstrating the strong competition within the game rather than a lack of action.

 The Bears started the game with intent and looked in control of the ball, and their efforts were rewarded at 20 minutes, when they were given a free kick in a strong attacking position. Hallisey’s resulting take was exemplary, with a swirling strike that sailed passed the defensive wall and the goalkeeper’s outstretched hands to nestle in the left corner.

 “Anytime it’s on the right side of the field, it’s the perfect time for a left-footer to put in a swinger,” Hallisey said. “It worked out well for me.”

 The greatest attacking threat of the Washington team going into the game was its flip throw from Michael Harris, whose acrobatic skill can propel balls from the halfway line to the penalty box. This danger, however, was adequately dealt with by a Cal defense that was constantly on hand to head the ball away.

 A chance came for the Huskies two minutes into the second half from just such a ball, and although it created a momentary concern for the Bears, the resulting shot was aptly saved by Cal’s goalkeeper, Justin Taillole.

 “We prepared for it well — it was something that we worked on in training,” Taillole said.

 This threatening start from the Huskies became the theme of the game after the break as a result of Cal’s second-half strategy, which looked to consolidate in defense rather than push forward to extend the lead. This Washington offensive play created some close calls for the Bears, but a confident display from Taillole meant the visiting team struggled to convert chances into goals.

The pressure against Cal continued to mount, and a Washington goal seemed in the cards. The goal came rather contentiously with five minutes to go in a corner and a clear shot that finally evaded Taillole. The Cal defense’s mistake was allegedly a result of illegal play by the visiting team, with a pick on Bears’ veteran defender Steve Birnbaum.

 “It looked like Steve got completely picked,” said coach Kevin Grimes. “Steve’s never going to leave a guy that wide open. It’s just impossible — he’s too good of a player.”

 Regardless of the controversy, Washington got the goal and kept the momentum going into overtime, and the situation was tense for the home team. the Bears kept their composure, though, and with a few good shots in the box, they were unfortunate not to come away with the win.

 The game ended in the drama that was indicative of the match as a whole: a free kick for the Bears on the corner of the penalty box with less than a minute to go. The take by Christian Dean came to nothing in the end, but the match demonstrated the caliber of both sides. In a high-pressure atmosphere, the Bears pulled through and maintained their unbeaten record.

Daniella Mogilner covers men’s soccer. Contact her at dmogilner@dailycal.org.

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“Everyone is aware of it,” said Cal coach Kevin Grimes. “Everyone they have played and everyone they will play in the future. It is certainly no secret.”

No. 3 Washington (6-0-2) has employed this tactic at will and has seen results on offense, contributing to their 18 goals in eight games. But now they visit No. 1 Cal in a much anticipated game between two of the nation’s top sides.

No. 1 vs. No. 3: It can’t get much bigger than that. It’s the Bears’ defense vs. the Huskies’ throw-in. When the dust clears, the winner of the aerial battle will have not only solidified its spot at the top of the Pac-12 but also the top of the collegiate soccer world.

A good measuring stick for the teams is their shared opponent Santa Clara. Back on Sept. 3, the Huskies blew through the Broncos, 4-1, at home. Cal, on the other hand, needed overtime to beat Santa Clara, 1-0, on Sept. 27.

Both squads opened conference play Thursday, giving the teams an extra day to rest going into Sunday’s match, as opposed to the normal Friday-Sunday format. With exhaustion being eliminated in the equation, both teams will come out in full form at 11 a.m. in Edwards Stadium.

“There is a good chance that Sunday will be quite lively, given that extra day,” Grimes said.

For the Bears, the unit that must be the most alert is the defense. Every time the ball goes out in their defensive third, Huskies’ defender Michael Harris will employ his flip throw. Although Harris is not particularly imposing at 5-foot-10, the threat he presents is revealed when he takes a big running start, flips and uses the momentum to hurl the ball toward the net.

Often, the ball soars high and lands smack dab in the middle of the 18-yard box, creating a golden scoring chance for Washington. It will be up to the Bears to prevent their opponent from cashing in on the opportunity.

“The biggest thing is to get all our big guys in there trying to disrupt and keep the attackers off our keeper,” said junior Christian Dean.

It will be up to big athletes such as Dean, defender Steve Birnbaum and forward Stefano Bonomo to drop in defensively and head the ball safely away.

Offensively, Cal will look to take advantage of untested Husky keeper Ryan Herman, who had not appeared in a single game in his three years preceding this season. Herman, whose talent was validated when he signed with the U-23 squad of FC Sounders, does not have the Pac-12 experience to back up his skills.

Although Sunday’s contest has many national implications, it may also affect late-season seeding and conference-title runs. But those are not the only reasons this game is important to the Bears, who have only recently come into their No. 1 ranking.

“It is very important that we win this game,” Dean said. “We want to prove that we should be where we are and validate the work we have put in.”

They have had three years of work leading up to this game, but 90 minutes will decide the outcome.

Austin Crochetiere covers men’s soccer. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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Cal (7-0-1, 1-0-0 Pac-12) started its Pac-12 season with a confident performance against Oregon State (7-3-0, 0-1-0 Pac-12) with a 3-1 winning margin that was rarely threatened from kickoff to final whistle.

Within the first two minutes of the game, the Bears were in command, with Stephen Bonomo taking an early strike at goal. This dominance continued throughout the first half as Cal maintained large chunks of possession and constantly looked toward the penalty box.

“I think we played really well in the first half but later on were a little too casual,” said Bonomo, a goal scorer.

The early possession was rewarded with constant shots from the home team, with two of these two shots converted into goals by Bonomo and Omid Jalali, giving Cal a 2-0 lead going into the break.

The second half was started very much in the same fashion as the first — an early break, a great corner from Ryan Neil and a goal off the head of Steven Birnbaum.

Cal stayed in control throughout the game with a confident display in midfield and on the wings to provide a constant offensive threat. Its only lapse in concentration occurred 80 minutes in, with a rare attack from Oregon State leading to a goal for the visiting team.

“We seemed to take our foot off the pedal just a little bit,” said head coach Kevin Grimes.

Ultimately, though, the Bears put in a commanding performance that will be sure to put them in good standing for the rest of their Pac-12 schedule.

Daniella Mogilner covers women’s swim. Contact her at dmogilner@dailycal.org.

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Kore Chan/File

It’s time to get serious.

While the Bears started their season on a strong note, it is their first Pac-12 game Thursday against Oregon State in Berkeley that will define the team as it moves forward.

The start of the Pac-12 signifies the start of the conference season for the Bears as they look to improve on their fourth-place finish last year. Cal enters the Pac-12 in top form, ranking No. 1 in the polls. In order to maintain this position, however, a positive and authoritative start is essential.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s Pac-12, so it’s going to be different than the normal preseason games that we’ve played,” said defender Christian Dean. “It’s probably going to be way more intense.”

The difference in caliber will be substantial now that the formal season has started. The Bears’ upcoming games include a match against No. 3 Washington, another team that has remained unbeaten in the run-up to the conference, and UCLA, the defending champions of the Pac-12 and a team ranked within the top 10. Although the Bears have played well up to this point, they will need to step up their game to compete with these top teams if they have real aspirations to win the league this year.

Head coach Kevin Grimes is confident, however, in the preparation Cal has had in the run-up to the conference.

“I think, in general, they’re going to be around the same — that’s why we play a tough nonconference schedule,” Grimes said.

This week will be a busy one for Cal (6-0-1) as it takes on the Oregon State Beavers (7-2-0) on Thursday and then look to play No. 3 Washington (5-0-2), the runners-up in the last year’s Pac-12 Conference, on Sunday.

Cal’s opposition on Thursday, although unranked, has clearly shown its strength this season. With only two losses — both away from home, and high-scoring wins — this will be a tough team to beat.

In comparison, Cal has scored relatively lower this season and thus needs to look out for the Beavers’ threatening offense. Oregon has scored a total of 19 goals — compared to the Bears’ 14 — and has a higher goals-per-game average: 2.11 versus Cal’s 2.0.

“Oregon State certainly has a good attack,” Grimes said. “They’ve scored a lot of goals this year, so we know they have a lot of players capable of finishing.”

The last time these two teams met face to face, Cal came away with a win that was achieved within the first two minutes. An early strike from Alex Sundly was saved by the goalkeeper — only to be tapped in by John Fitzpatrick on the rebound. The defense held strong for the next 88 minutes, and Cal came out on top.

A look toward Cal’s upcoming match against Washington on Sunday will also affect the way the team aims to play. After last week’s late winner against Santa Clara, the prospect of another overtime game is a concern for the Bears, who will want to preserve any energy they can for what is arguably the more important game of the week.

Daniella Mogilner covers men’s soccer. Contact her at dmogilner@dailycal.org.

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Sureya Melkonian/Staff

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 out and an off-balance defender to his side, Oldham ripped a shot to the far post. At the opposite side of the net on the endline waited senior Alec Sundly. The forward stayed onside and tapped in the golden goal, ending the game in thrilling fashion.

“I was looking to bend it far post, but when you are that close to the goal, a shot is just as good as a cross, and luckily Alec was there to punch it in,” Oldham said. “It was going in, but he was there to make sure it would go in 100 percent.”

Sundly was credited with the goal and Oldham the assist, but it didn’t matter. The final scoreboard read 1-0 in favor of the Bears’ and both the crowd and Cal bench erupted in celebration as Sundly and Oldham mobbed each other.

In a game where the No. 1 Bears (6-0-1) just couldn’t seem to break down the Broncos’ defensive wall, all it took was a few huge plays by the Cal substitutes to keep the squads’ record and ranking unblemished.

After an uneventful first half, the game turned into a Cal-dominated affair in the second. Santa Clara’s sloppy play led to many turnovers in the Broncos’ defensive third. try as they could, the Bears could not capitalize on the opportunities.

“You have to give them credit, they were able to thwart our attacks,” said coach Kevin Grimes said.

Often Santa Clara (3-5-0) found themselves with eight of nine players behind the ball, closing up any gaps and frustrating the Cal forwards. While the Bears continued to pound away at the Broncos’ goal, the Cal defense found themselves with little to do.

Keeper Justin Tallole did not record a single save the entire game, and the Bears defense only yielded four shots in stark contrast to the Bears’ 14 chances. The only threat Cal had to face was the big throw-in ability of the Broncos defenders. Every time the ball went out in the Bears’ half, a Santa Clara player was able to lob the ball into the six-yard box from the sideline, effectively providing the equivalent of a corner kick.

“Any time a ball gets lofted inside your six from a throw-in, it’s always a potentially dangerous play, but our guys did a good job,” Grimes said.

As the buzzer sounded, freshman Christian Thierjung sailed a shot just over the bar, sending Cal’s third overtime game of the young season. It was the intermission between regular time and the extra session that would eventually tip the scales.

“We got a chance to regroup with that five-minute intermission,” Grimes said. “We just hadn’t scored, and we needed an extra this, that or the other to make the goal.”

The Bears came out  creating chance after chance, keeping the Santa Clara defense in a constant state of desperation. Then Oldham and Sundly put the dagger through the Broncos, catapulting the Bears to another dramatic win.

Austin Crochetiere covers men’s soccer. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org.

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Kelly Fang/File

Zero to hero.

Over the weekend, Cal achieved something it had never achieved it all of its 107-year history, a No.1 ranking in three major polls. The achievement is even more impressive considering that last year, the squad failed to make the rankings at all.

“It’s a great honor for our team,” said Steven Birnbaum, a defender and the top goal-scorer for Cal.

This accolade has brought with it a strong sense of expectation and new demands for this high-flying team. Will the Bears maintain their winning ways in this high-pressure environment, or will they crack?

But head coach Kevin Grimes is not worried. He maintains that Cal has always been under pressure to perform.

“Cal’s always going to have people coming after them, and that wouldn’t matter whether you were ranked No. 1 or No. 100,” Grimes said.

The players, too, are not focusing on the ranking.

“The rankings really don’t matter at this point, because every game is up in the air,” said defender Dylan Serrano.

Cal’s opponent this week is Santa Clara, a team that, although unranked, should not be underestimated. After starting slow with four consecutive losses, Santa Clara has won three games on the trot, clinching the last two victories in the closing minutes — a potential sign of danger for the Bears, who seemed to switch off in the second half of their victory last week.

For Grimes, however, this is not a major threat.

“We’ve also scored ourselves at the end of the game,” Grimes said. “I doubt their plan is to score late to win a game.”

The last time these two teams met, the score was close, with a difference of one goal. Cal clinched the win despite a late goal by Glenn Vass that brought the Broncos back into the game mere seconds after Tony Salciccia’s successful penalty. The final score was 2-1, with Alex Sundly’s goal in the first half making the difference.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Birnbaum said. “We’re glad we’re at home.”

Santa Clara’s relative success on the road may invalidate this home advantage, however, and the Bears need to maintain their composure against this threatening team. The Broncos’ losses, with one exception, have all been within one goal in relatively low-scoring games — a worry for a Cal team that has had trouble finishing.

“They have a solid, scrappy defense, so they’re definitely going to make it a good game,” Serrano said.

The match is also important when looking to the future. Cal plays its first Pac-12 Conference game against Oregon next week, and a strong performance Friday could set the tone for the Bears’ season.

“Every game is a building block, but we just try to take it one game at a time and focus on the next step to getting where we want to be,” Serrano said.

With the threat the Broncos pose in the closing stages, the Bears need to control the game from start to finish. With this in mind, they ought to maintain their unbeaten record and remain at the top of the table.

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