Win And You're In

CALIFORNIA LACROSSE GAME NOTES
CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (5-9, 2-4 PAC-12)
AT
NO. 19 STANFORD CARDINAL (10-4, 6-0 PAC-12)
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024 • 7 PM PDT
MALONEY FIELD AT LAIRD Q. CAGAN STADIUM (STANFORD, CA)

WIN AND YOU'RE IN; CAL AT STANFORD ON SATURDAY
— Cal's final regular-season game Saturday evening at No. 19 Stanford is also the final regular-season Pac-12 game of the 2024 campaign.
— The top six finishers in the Pac-12 regular season standings among the eight teams in the league will qualify for the Pac-12 Tournament. California is one of five teams - along with Arizona State, Oregon, San Diego State and UC Davis – who has not clinched a berth but is still in contention for the final three spots in the Pac-12 Tournament. The scenarios for who will occupy those three spots are multiple and complicated, but for Cal they are simple – the Bears will advance to the Pac-12 Tournament with a win at Stanford but a loss to the Cardinal will end their season.
— Cal snapped a four-game losing streak in its most recent contest with a home win over San Diego State last Saturday, while Stanford had a five-game win streak snapped with a non-conference road loss in overtime at No. 13 Stony Brook on Thursday but has still won 10 of 12 after starting the year with a pair of losses.
— Saturday's contest will be the final regular-season game for seven Cal seniors (Addie Fischer, Callan Fritsch, Kennedy Goss, Simone Holland, Kate Rothman, Caroline Roxas and Charlotte Smith).
— Stanford leads the all-time series, 42-7, and has won 25 in a row overall against the Bears. Cal's last win in the series came in Berkeley on February 23, 2008. The Bears have never won at Stanford.
— Saturday's forecast at Stanford at first draw calls for intermittent clouds, a 0% chance of precipitation, a temperature of 61 degrees, and winds out of the west at 12 miles per hour.

LAST TIME OUT: CAL COMES UP BIG AGAINST SAN DIEGO STATE
— A hard-fought 17-13 victory over San Diego State on Cal's Senior Day last Saturday in the Bears' final home game of the regular season kept them in contention for a spot in the Pac-12 Tournament. 
— The Bears took control of the high-scoring battle that featured a combined 30 goals (most in a Cal game this season) during a stretch where Cal scored seven of nine goals after the contest had been tied 5-5 early in the second period. Cal's run culminated on Kate Rothman's unassisted goal with 7:55 to go in the third to give the Bears a five-goal lead at 12-7. San Diego State answered with back-to-back goals to cut Cal's advantage to 12-9 with 4:07 to go in the third but would never get that close again.
— Cal's 17 goals were tied for its second-most ever in a Pac-12 game and one short of its all-time best in a Pac-12 contest – a wild 21-18 loss to Arizona State at home in 2022 – as well as its' second most overall in 2024 next to the 19 the Bears scored in a season-opening 19-10 win over Akron.
— Isabel King had a career-high four goals to lead six Bears with at least two goals and eight who found the back of the net at least once. King also had an assist and finished with a career-high five points.
— Callan Fritsch had a game-high 12 saves for the Bears.
— The win was Cal's fifth of the season to tie its win total of 2023.

OTHER NOTABLES
— Cal has dominated draw controls this season with a .591 percentage that is second in the Pac-12 to Stanford and 16th nationally. The Bears have won the draw control battle in 12 of 14 games this season. Kennedy Goss leads Cal with 72 draw controls and is both the Bears' all-time (274) and single-season (83, 2023) leader with her all-time total ranking fourth in the Pac-12. Goss ranks fifth in the Pac-12 and is tied for 42nd nationally in draw controls per game (5.14) while ranking 50th nationally in overall draw controls. She has two of the top four draw control seasons ever at Cal, adding 80 in 2022. She needs five more in 2024 to make it three of the top five and 11 to break her 2023 school record.
— Cal ranks fourth in the Pac-12 and 40th nationally in scoring defense (10.71 goals against per game). The Bears allowed more than 10 goals only once in their first nine games but have given up more than 10 in four of their last five contests.
— Callan Fritsch is third in the Pac-12 and 30th nationally in save percentage (.459). Fritsch also ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in both goals against average (10.99) and saves (100).
— Cal has a current string of three straight games with double digit goals – at Arizona and against UC Davis and San Diego State. The Bears have never done it in four or more straight Pac-12 games.
— Cal is playing its sixth and final season in the Pac-12 before officially joining the ACC on Aug. 2. The Bears joined the Pac-12 in 2018 but there were no league games during the 2020 COVID campaign.