After earning the MPSF Women’s Lacrosse Player of the year twice while playing for Stanford, Schmidt was an assistant coach for the Bulldogs last year. Schmidt replaces former Cal assistant Emma Wallace, and joins assistant coach Allison Comito under Miles.

“Lauren brings with her not only a passion for lacrosse but also a desire to see the game grow on the West Coast,” Miles said.

During her time as a Cardinal, Schmidt led her team to the 2009 and 2010 NCAA tournaments. She was also a member of the U.S. National Team from 2009-2011, competing in several U.S. lacrosse training sessions and tournaments.

“Her familiarity with the conference and her experience playing for the U.S. National Team will undoubtedly help us take this program to the next level,” Miles said. “Lauren will be a great mentor for our midfield unit and ensure they are maximizing their potential.”

At Fresno State, the former Stanford midfielder focused mainly on the organization, scouting and recruiting of the attacking and midfield aspects of the team.

“I had known [Cal’s] grit, how tough they were and what kind of athletes they were from playing against them and coaching against them,” said Schmidt. “I’m hoping to contribute in any way I can, and I’m definitely excited to come on board.”

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Allyse Bacharach/File

The 2012 Cal lacrosse team had its best season since 2005. But even the Bears’ 8-8 record left something to be desired.

After suffering several close losses, Cal went on a four-game winning streak in early April before losing Megan Takacs, the team’s leading scorer, to a season-ending injury.

Although the Bears came out with a 9-8 record last season — their first winning season since 2005 — Cal’s 2011 season was tainted with inconsistent play. The team never earned more than two consecutive wins. When head coach Ginger Miles took over the program last June, the Bears developed a new mentality, challenging the notion that they were simply a “second-half team” that would pull through in the last half of the match.

This year the Bears started off their season like last year, struggling to piece together a long winning streak. Although Cal opened up its season with a lopsided 18-6 victory over St. Mary’s, the Bears fell to No. 9 James Madison in their home opener.

However, Cal lost games in the first half of the season by only four-point margins or less. The Bears’ losses included a disappointing 10-9 loss to Oregon, who became the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament. Cal also lost a close 16-13 matchup to conference foe Denver, which became the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

“We’ve lost a lot of close games this season — games that we really had a chance of winning,” Miles said in April. “But we have learned how to roll with the punches during a game and how to keep swinging when our backs are on the ropes.”

After the Bears came out of their nonconference match against Navy with a blowout 15-5 defeat, they strove to compensate for their early losses. After Cal’s game with the Midshipmen, the Bears went on a four-game win streak, starting with their game against Villanova, in which they garnered their first East Coast victory.

“(After) we just had a loss to Navy, the team was pretty down,” said senior Tori Harrison before the team’s final game against Oregon. “But Ginger came up to the defense before the game and said, ‘You have one task — to get the ball back.’”

“And the defense was relentless. It was a big turning point for the communication aspect of our defense, which improved from there.”

The Cal squad easily dominated UC Davis, and then used this momentum to slaughter conference opponent Fresno State by a 14-point margin.

However, just when they had hit their rhythm, Takacs suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Bears’ 15-12 win at Vermont. Without her, the team fell to No. 20 Boston College in one of Cal’s worst losses of the season, ending the team’s streak.

The Bears did not win again after losing Takacs, finishing the season 0-3. The Bears met Oregon for the second time in the MPSF Tournament semifinals, but their season ended with a 14-11 loss.

Although Takacs was injured this year, she and several other key players will be coming back next season. The team will return talent such as Takacs, attacker Melissa Humphrey and midfielder Paige Gasparino. With most of the same players returning, Cal will look to build on its success from this year.

If the Bears can find their rhythm once again, the team has the potential to produce another winning season.

“Although we had a lot of close losses this year, for a lot of people those were games that they didn’t even expect us to be in,” Miles said. “All the girls on our team know we’re capable of winning games like that — those tight games.”

“Our players have done a really good job of holding themselves accountable and not settling for less than their best.”

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Anna Vignet/File

Although the Cal lacrosse team made a comeback with five consecutive goals in the second half, the squad’s last-chance effort was not enough to give them the win, and the Bears fell to Oregon 14-11 in the MPSF semifinals.

This Friday at Cagan Stadium in Stanford, Calif., the Bears (8-8) lost a close match to the Ducks (13-4), the No. 1 seed in the MPSF tournament. Although Cal was trailing by seven with a quarter left in the game, the Bears managed to claw back to within two points of the Ducks with 2:01 remaining.

However, Oregon midfielder Jess Drummond notched the game’s final goal with two minutes left in the match, giving the Ducks a spot in the conference finals. Cal’s loss ended the season for the Bears, who cannot move on to the MPSF championships to clinch a berth into the NCAA play-in.

“I was thinking the entire time that this team won’t give up or stop fighting,” coach Ginger Miles said. “We continued to fight and continued to battle, but unfortunately we weren’t able to close the gap.”

At halftime, the Bears trailed by only two points. However, the Ducks forged their largest lead of the game by scoring the first five goals of the second half. Oregon’s run was capped by midfielder Shannon Propst with about 15 minutes left in the match.

After senior midfielder Emily Abbood stole the draw control with 13 minutes remaining, Cal surged on its own 5-0 run, with attackers Melissa Humphrey and Alexa Rozelle and midfielder Gaby Christman each netting goals throughout the last ten minutes of the game.

The Bears ultimately prevented the Ducks from scoring by causing several turnovers and picking up ground balls. By limiting its opponent, Cal cut the Ducks’ lead down to a two-point margin.

Abbood contributed five draw controls and caused three turnovers, while sophomore defender Teresa Li nabbed a game-high four ground balls.

However, Cal’s second-half comeback fell short, as the team could not take possession of the ball for long enough to make a shot in the last two minutes of the game.

The Bears lost another close match against Oregon earlier this year, when Cal was edged 10-9 on Feb. 26.

“The other game up in Oregon had a lot of fouls,” Miles said. “We came out here though and played differently than we did back in February. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the result we wanted.”

This time around, the Bears played without top scorer Megan Takacs, who scored five goals in Cal’s earlier game with the Ducks.

Takacs injured her knee in Cal’s game against Vermont on April 12, and Cal has gone 0-3 in her absence. Even without Takacs, Cal prepared for its conference tournament game by cultivating a balanced attack.

“All season long we’ve worked really hard on sharing the ball on the attack, making sure we weren’t a one-woman show, knowing that injuries happen,” Miles said. “And we know that our best is as good as any team in this conference.”

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Anna Vignet/Senior Staff

There is no shot clock in college lacrosse.

But if there was, Cal may have been able to win its last game of the regular season against the Cardinal.

On Friday evening in Witter Field, the Bears (8-7, 4-3 in the MPSF) lost a back-and-forth battle to Stanford (6-9, 4-2) in their last conference game of the year. After Stanford took possession of the ball for seven straight minutes, the Cardinal scored the winning goal to give them a 9-8 win.

With about seven minutes left in the match, Cal midfielder Paige Gasparino notched a free-position shot to tie the game at eight. At that point, the victory was up for grabs.

However, after a scrambled faceoff, Stanford took possession, and the squad nonchalantly passed the ball around for more than six minutes while the Bears desperately tried to tip the ball out of their opponents’ stick. Finally, with 24 seconds left in the second half, midfielder Emilie Boeri raced from the eight-meter arc towards the cage and swiftly flung the ball past Cal goalie Megan McGinnis for the winning goal.

Because the Bears could not cause a turnover to give them the possession, Stanford had control over the ball for the majority of the game. The players were consistently at the Cardinal’s end of the field, and Stanford was able to hold on to the ball for at least two minutes before nabbing all of its goals.

The Bears had a different offensive strategy. When Cal gained possession, the squad made rapid passes and quickly shot the ball past Stanford’s goalie Lyndsey Munoz. Because Cal had the advantage in speed, it was able to keep up with Stanford until the last minute of play, when the Cardinal’s ball possession ran out the clock.

Gasparino led Cal with a game-high three goals, while midfielders Vail Horn and Amelia Burke and attackers Alexa Rozelle and Melissa Humphrey all notched goals of their own.

Both Cal and Stanford have already clinched berths to the MPSF Tournament, which runs April 27-29. The Cardinal’s victory means the squad will snag the third seed in the tournament as long as it defeats St. Mary’s this Sunday.

However, the loss does not bode well for Cal’s semifinal game against Oregon. The Ducks are the top seed in the MPSF standings and the only team that has not lost any conference games. In addition, the Bears will not have attacker Megan Takacs — the top scorer in the nation — who is out for the season with an injury.

Prior to the match, Cal honored its four seniors — Emily Abbood, Tara Arolla, Tori Harrison and Vail Horn — who all played their last regular-season game at Berkeley.

“They’re an incredible group of seniors,” coach Ginger Miles said. “They’ve always been that group that’s kept us together, kept us motivated, kept us focused, kept us pushing towards our goals.”

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Faith Buchanan/File

This Friday, the Cal lacrosse team will play for nothing but pride in its last regular season game against Stanford. With junior Megan Takacs now out for the season, the Bears may not be playing for much in the postseason, either.

Takacs, who was injured in Cal’s win against Vermont last Thursday, did not play in the Bears’ previous match against Boston College, in which they fell 16-6. The loss, one of Cal’s worst of the season, was the first game the Bears played without Takacs. She had already broken Cal’s single-season goals record, with 53. The junior is still the top scorer in the nation with a 4.08 goals-per-game average.

Before Takacs was injured, the team was on a three-game winning streak. The Bears may have struggled in the first half of their game against Villanova; however, they finished out strong, netting shot after shot to notch their first victory of the streak. Going into its Davis game, the squad was overly prepared, easily dominating the Aggies and then using this momentum to slaughter conference opponent Fresno State by a 14-point chasm.

During these matches, Takacs notched 12 goals overall, scoring about a third of the team’s goals in each game. The Bears came out with another victory against Vermont to extend their win streak to four; however, after losing Takacs, the team fell to No. 20 Boston College, ending their streak.

As of now, the Bears (8-6, 4-2 in the MPSF) are ranked third in the MPSF standings, while the Cardinal (5-9, 3-2) are fourth. The 5 p.m. game at Witter Field has few implications for the upcoming MPSF Tournament, however, as both teams have already clinched berths. Whoever wins this Friday’s matchup will snag the third seed in the tournament, while the loser will take fourth.

Stanford has had a rough season plagued by two- and three-game losing streaks against East Coast schools. And although Emilie Boeri leads Stanford in goals and assists, she still falls behind Takacs and attackers Melissa Humphrey and Alexa Rozelle in comparison.

However, the Cardinal still managed to clinch their position in the MPSF Tournament after defeating Davis with a close 19-18 win on Wednesday. Although Stanford has one final conference match against St. Mary’s this Sunday, it will likely gain another victory against the Gaels, who are ranked seventh in the MPSF standings.

Without Takacs, Cal will find it difficult to overcome a first-round matchup against either Denver or Oregon, both of which are tied for first place with 6-0 records. The Bears came close in their previous games against the two squads, as Cal only fell by three- and one-point margins, respectively.

Prior to the match, the Bears will celebrate Senior Day for its four senior co-captains: MPSF All-American Emily Abbood, Tara Arolla, Tori Harrison and Vail Horn. Abbood leads the team in ground balls and caused turnovers, while Horn is ranked third on the team in goals and fourth in assists this year.

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Faith Buchanan/Staff

With one minute remaining in practice, Emily Abbood had just gotten possession of the ball. The senior midfielder raced toward the cage at the end of the field, hoping to close that day in October of 2010 with a final goal.

As she neared the eight-meter arc, Abbood, who was cradling the ball in the pocket of her stick, prepared to cut through the defenders and launch the ball past the goalie. She dashed left and came back right, but then she heard a loud pop.

Abbood’s left knee had given out from under her, and she collapsed to the ground. She later found out that she had torn her ACL and as a result could not play in the ensuing 2011 season. As a pre-medical student pursuing a career in orthopedics and sports medicine, Abbood had become a victim of the very thing she had been studying to amend.

Abbood’s interest in medicine goes as far back as her interest in sports. In elementary school, she was exposed to the medical field through her mother, who worked at Rhode Island Hospital as a nurse. Through her frequent encounters with doctors and orthopedic residents, she was drawn to the idea of sports medicine.

In the spring of her sophomore year, Abbood took a public health class that detailed the healthcare system in the U.S., and she was hooked. Abbood knew she wanted to major in public health and pursue a career in the medical field, considering orthopedic surgery or emergency room medicine as possible future careers.

So after suffering the injury right before her senior season, Abbood made plans to apply to post-baccalaureate programs before applying to medical school, thereby ending her Cal lacrosse career — the team had been among five athletic programs cut earlier in September. With her injured knee and a cut lacrosse program, Abbood’s return to the field seemed to be a lost cause.

“When we found out about the program, we were angry and upset, but decided that we just had to have a great last season,” Abbood says. “But when I tore my ACL, that’s when it changed. It hit me that I was never gonna play lacrosse again, and I kinda just had to accept that.”

However, in mid-February, the university announced the reinstatement of the lacrosse program, and Abbood was shocked. She immediately considered coming back to play for a fifth year with the Bears. Although her parents, Teresa and Michael Abbood, were initially against the idea of letting her stay for another year due to out-of-state tuition expenses, they eventually agreed — she would finish up her pre-med requirements at Berkeley while serving as senior co-captain of the team.

“My husband and I tossed that idea back and forth for a while,” Teresa says. “But we decided that we didn’t want her to have any regrets ever, years later, saying that she wished she played a fifth year and she wished she completed her role as a captain. We just didn’t want to take that passion away from her.”

Instead of graduating that year, Abbood had her mind set on playing with the Bears for a final season. She would finish her remaining requirements at Berkeley before she took the MCAT in August and applied to med school in the fall.

Abbood had to work harder than ever to recover and get back on track. She underwent intense physical therapy after having surgery on her left knee. She was determined to recuperate as quickly as possible, stretching and bending her knee everyday and gradually increasing the flexibility in her joint.

“I never had to tell her that it was time for physical therapy,” Teresa says. “She would come home, get on the floor and start stretching. Her heart was in it 100 percent, and she just did not want to give up.”

This year, Abbood has not only become a leader in ground balls and caused turnovers, but she has also been brandished by her teammates as one of the “nerds.” When she isn’t playing lacrosse, she is studying for her classes, seeking out tutors or going to study groups. Although one of her main priorities this year is to win an MPSF championship, Abbood is determined to study and prepare for the MCATs just as hard as she plays the game.

“(Attacker Alexa Rozelle) texted me the other day asking me to teach her how to be a nerd,” Abbood says with a laugh. “It’s a joke by the team, but I guess I’m just diligent. Things don’t just come naturally to me, so I have to prioritize and start studying early.”

Abbood sees the sport of lacrosse as a means to stay grounded. When she takes the field for practice or a game, she is able to retreat from the stresses of school and just focus on playing the sport. Lacrosse pushes her: it has taught her to prioritize and balance sports and school, especially while finishing up core classes before the August MCAT.

After she tore her ACL, Abbood did not understand why her mother kept telling her that “everything happens for a reason.” She was upset. She had worked too hard to get to where she was to have it all taken away with one bad break.

Now, Abbood finally recognizes and appreciates her mother’s words of wisdom.

“Being here and playing lacrosse is a challenge,” Abbood says. “But all those things associated with lacrosse — injuries, traveling, having to prioritize — they’ve helped me become a mentally strong person. It’s taught me a lot about myself, and it’s these lessons that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”

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In their first game without junior Megan Takacs, the nation’s leading scorer who was injured in Thursday’s win, the Bears (8-6, 4-2 in the MPSF) suffered one of their worst losses of the season, falling to the Eagles 16-6. At Newton Sports Complex in Newton, Mass., Boston College (8-7) ended Cal’s four-game win streak in a game in which the result was never in doubt.

The Eagles found the back of the net less than a minute into the game for their first goal. From then on, they notched goal after goal, with six different Eagles accounting for eight unanswered goals in the first half. Although McGinnis made nine saves in the first half, Boston College outshot the Bears by a whopping 25-7 margin. Cal midfielder Emily Abbood, assisted by junior attacker Melissa Humphrey, notched the Bears’ single goal of the period with five minutes left in the half, as the Eagles took an 8-1 advantage going into halftime.

“We weren’t able to answer back when we needed to,” said coach Ginger Miles. “The score got away from us, and we didn’t have the legs to catch up.”

After four minutes of scoreless play in the second half, freshman Mikaela Rix extended the Eagles’ lead to make it a 9-1 game. Humphrey answered back with Cal’s second goal of the game; however, Boston College retaliated with three more goals, giving its team a 10-point advantage.

The Bears fought back for the next six minutes, with midfielders Emily Abbood and Hayley Olson and attacker Alexa Rozelle each nabbing one goal. Cal outscored the Eagles 3-1 to cut the deficit to eight; however, Boston College came back with a vengeance, going on its own 3-1 run to finally clinch its 16-6 victory. The Eagles’ last goal, made with a minute left in the game, was a fitting end to a match in which the Bears were simply overmatched by a superior Boston College team.

“We actually got a lot of defensive stops today but didn’t come up with the ball,” Miles said. “We gave a good BC team too many looks at the cage.”

If Saturday’s match was any indication, the Bears may need Takacs if they want any shot at beating Stanford on Friday. Takacs is the Bears’ leading scorer with a 4.09 goals per game average.

Cal will finish the regular season against the Cardinal at Witter Field.

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Takacs fell to the ground after she injured herself shooting a goal near the middle of the second half in Cal’s 15-12 win at Virtue Field in Burlington, Vt. She was later carried off and did not play for the rest of the match.

Cal coach Ginger Miles said she doesn’t know if Takacs will be able to play in the squad’s remaining games.

However, that did not stop Takacs from scoring her fourth goal of the game and breaking one of Cal’s single-season records. The junior attacker now has 53 goals, surpassing the previous record of 49 that she shared with former Cal star Sarah Wheatley.

“All the teams put their best defender on her, and everybody knows who she is,” said Cal coach Ginger Miles. “But she’s done a really great job playing above it and finding ways to continue to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Cal (8-5, 4-2 in the MPSF) extended its three-game win streak to four after dominating its nonconference matchup against Vermont. The Bears and the Catamounts (8-6) played a back-and-forth contest for the majority of the first period. However, Cal continued to one-up its opponent into the second half, eventually coming out with a 15-12 victory.

“We’ve been in that kind of situation before, where we were just going back and forth,” Miles said. “But we’ve learned from our past missteps and mistakes, and we were able to set out with a lead and maintain it going into the last half of the game.”

With the score tied at 5, junior attacker Melissa Humphrey and midfielders Vail Horn and Teresa Li notched one goal each with about five minutes left in the first period. Although Vermont was able to net in an eight-meter goal, the Bears had an 8-6 advantage going into halftime.

From then on, the Bears stayed ahead of the Catamounts by at least a two-point margin for the rest of the match. At one point, Cal even had a four-point lead, when three different Bears — Takacs, Alexa Rozelle and Paige Gasparino — scored fast-break goals.

At the end of the second half, Cal took the final possession and held on for the last three minutes of the game. Even though the Bears had the opportunity to take an eight-meter shot, they did not want to risk losing the possession, choosing to let the clock wind down.

“We basically had a comfortable lead at the very end of the match,” Miles said. “We didn’t feel the need to score any more goals, so we just stretched out our players a little bit and kept passing the ball until the time ran out.”

With their victory against tough-matched Vermont, the Bears are looking to continue their streak against Boston College, who is ranked in the top 20 of the NCAA. By the end of their East coast trip, the Bears hope to be fully prepared — mentally and physically — for their final conference game against Stanford.

“Honestly, the teams on the East Coast are a little more physical, and they have the advantage by knowing how to play in cold weather,” Miles said. “But it’s good to be challenged, and it’s definitely great practice for us before our Stanford game.”

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At 2 p.m. on Thursday, Cal (6-5, 3-2 in the MPSF) will look to extend its streak when the team faces a Vermont squad that ranks among the nation’s top 10 in ground balls, goals and points.

“We’ve lost a lot of close games this season — games that we really had a chance of winning,” said coach Ginger Miles. “Those losses are still lingering with us, and we’re hoping to use these next two games as an opportunity to really execute to the level we’re capable of.”

The Bears will travel to Virtue Field in Burlington, Vt., to play their second-to-last away game of the season. Cal will then go head-to-head with Boston College this Saturday in Newton, Mass.

The Catamounts (8-5) boast one of the strongest offenses in the nation. Vermont has scoring leaders in senior midfielder Samantha Stern and sophomore attacker Sydney Mas, who are both three goals away from a career 100.

However, the Bears plan to maintain their unity on the field with the defenders backing up their attackers, and vice versa.

“Sometimes the girls get caught up within their own realms, thinking solely about what they can do on the attacking or defending end,” Miles said. “But it’s all about the midfield, defense and attack working together as one unit.”

The Bears have been showing their potential as of late through their on-field adjustments in matches.

Cal stepped up its defense against conference foe UC Davis, keeping the Aggies’ star player in check. Sophomore goalie Megan McGinnis limited Aggie attacker Elizabeth Datino to just two goals that night, helping the Bears notch their third conference victory with a game-high 10 saves.

Most recently, Cal topped Fresno State after a slight modification to the team’s game plan due to the bleak and rainy weather on Tuesday.

“Sometimes you have to change it up, because in times like this where the elements are involved, it’s going to be a little wet and a little slippery out there,” Miles said. “We told them to shorten up the passes and to take the easy ones, and they kept it simple.”

While the Bears are looking to compensate for their previous losses, the team feels that playing against East coast schools will give them a chance to prepare for their last MPSF match and attest to how well they have been working throughout the season.

With their newfound speed, the Bears hope to come out with two East coast wins — one against Vermont, and another against Boston College — before their final conference home game against Stanford.

“Traditionally, East Coast schools are tougher,” said junior Sarah Milik. “But if we can win these, I think we have a shot at beating Stanford for our last game of the season.”

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Both Cal and Fresno State exchanged several turnovers in the first quarter of the game at Witter Field, causing the ball to be lost on the rainy field.

Although senior midfielder Vail Horn notched the first two goals less than a minute into the contest, the Cal lacrosse team’s match against Fresno State stood at a standstill in terms of the score. For the next 10 minutes, the Bears and the Bulldogs would only play a game of cat-and-mouse, scurrying after the lost ball after an excessive amount of drops and turnovers.

However, the Bears (7-5, 4-2 in the MPSF) completely overturned their opponent by a 14-point chasm, winning their second-to-last conference game with an 18-4 victory.

“I think we just got a little ahead of ourselves in the beginning,” said senior attacker Tara Arolla. “We were working really hard, but we were making a lot of sloppy passes.”

After the Bears scored the first two goals, the game downshifted into an eight-minute scoring drought that the Bulldogs (2-8, 0-4 in the MPSF) eventually broke to put themselves on the scoreboard. Even afterwards, Cal did not manage to score until junior attacker Melissa Humphrey netted an eight-meter goal in the middle of the first half.

“We really had to focus on playing our game and not focusing on the other team as much,” said junior defender Sarah Milik. “I think that really showed later on in the game.”

With 10 minutes left before halftime, the Bears began to pick up their game, scoring three consecutive goals within two minutes before the Bulldogs called a timeout. Junior attackers Megan Takacs and Melissa Humphrey, who are among the nation’s leaders in NCAA offensive statistics this week, both contributed with goals and assists to make the score 6-1.

After the timeout, Cal reversed its protracted start to the game and accelerated to finish its first half with a commanding 9-3 lead.

The Bears’ speed carried on into the second half, as they notched the first six goals of the period to make the score 15-3. While midfielder Marcy Levatino managed to squeeze in one goal for her team in the second period, the Bears launched another three goals to finish the game off at 18-4. By the end of the match, it was clear that the Bears had completely dominated their conference opponent.

“We controlled the draws well,” Arolla said. “We focused on trying to get support for the ball and boxing out those players from the other team who were going for it — which definitely helped us control the majority of the game.”

With its victory over the Bulldogs this afternoon, Cal has strengthened its position in the top four of the MPSF rankings. The Bears had a losing conference record near the beginning of their season, with two close losses to Denver and Oregon. However, the team hopes to avenge its losses in the conference tournament at the end of April.

“Throughout this season, we didn’t necessarily execute to the best of our abilities,” Arolla said. “But, we’re just going to forget about the past, and hopefully make up for it during the MPSF Tournament.”

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