After earning a hard-fought 3-2 victory over San Diego State on Saturday, Cal can breathe a bit more easily.

Well, at least for the time being.

The Bears lost their first three games and looked out of sorts in a 4-0 blowout loss against then-No. 8 Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon, nearly two weeks ago. But now, with that first win behind it, Cal can finally settle in for the final half of its season, and maybe play with some confidence in its next game against UCLA in Berkeley this Saturday.

“We had a rough start to the season, but we played a tough opponent and we fought hard and we ended up getting our first win and it kind of set the tone,” said sophomore striker Arman Samimi. “I feel like now the tone is set and we have something to build off of.”

The attacking performance by Cal’s front line Saturday was particularly reassuring. Prior to the SDSU match, Cal had scored just one goal through three games. Left forward Fahmi Ibrahim and Samimi, who was named Pac-12 Player of the Week last week, both scored against the Aztecs. Samimi’s 81st minute goal, a true poacher’s goal in which he poked the ball around the SDSU goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the back of the net, was the game winner.

Former striker Tommy Williamson, who was drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes January and played what would be his final game for Cal in the team’s opening game against Stanford, was called in by the Earthquakes in the days following that 3-1 loss. The Bears have certainly felt the absence of their former top goal scorer but more than made up for it last Saturday.

Perhaps more importantly, earning a win has improved the team’s mood and has made for a somewhat more lighthearted week of practice so far.

“The guys were just a lot looser in general,” Samimi said. “Just like in anything, when you get the first win, it’s going to change things for the better. We still came out and our captains and our coaches made sure that we didn’t get any complacency within the team. Our practice this week was really sharp.”

Head coach Kevin Grimes is hesitant to claim that his team is fully back to being match fit after an abnormally long offseason, even after a win and a solid week of training.

“You have to give them a little bit of a break here, a little bit of a pass, because they’re just working their way into match fitness,” Grimes said. “And, again, as that is going on, we have to be really, really mindful of putting players out there for too long or too extensively because we could do some undue damage to an injury that they may have or one that may be creeping up.”

UCLA has also experienced a rough start to its spring season, as the Bruins are currently 1-4-1 and riding a three-game losing streak. But at least in in UCLA’s most recent game, a 2-0 loss at home to No. 7 Washington, the final score is deceptive; the Bruins actually earned the same number of shots on goal as the Huskies (4) and conceded the second goal in the 88th minute after being on the front foot for much of the last 20 minutes or so.

“They [UCLA] have got a lot of talent. They play possession-based games similar to Oregon State and similar to us,” Grimes said. “I’m sure they’re dealing with transition as all of us are, but they have had some decent early results. They tied with San Diego State and won a non-conference game over USF. But they’re a very good side.”

The Bruins haven’t scored in their last two games, but they have a good shot at breaking that streak Saturday against the Bears, who have conceded 11 goals through four games. Grimes believes that a little bit more determination might be the cure.

“We’re definitely not there defensively yet. I mean, we have been giving up too many goals and need to just continue to tighten up our lines and really be committed to that side of the ball at all times,” Grimes said. “A lot of it just starts with good old fashioned hard work — rolling up your sleeves and putting in the work defensively. It starts there.”

Another 90 minutes of hard work will certainly be necessary when the Bears kick off against the Bruins on Saturday at 1 p.m. While Cal’s first win lifted some of the pressure, by no means are the Bears breathing easily yet.