Cal Women's Soccer: Santa Clara Outlasts Bears 1-0 in Double-OT NCAA Opener

After its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2019, Cal finishes 10-5-6.

The Cal women’s soccer season ended just the way it did the last time the Bears made it to the NCAA tournament, with a 1-0 loss to Santa Clara.

This one went to double-overtime before the Broncos — national runner-up a year ago and champion in 2020 — prevailed on a header by Izzy D’Aquila with just 26 seconds remaining the second extra period at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara.

The Broncos defeated Cal 1-0 in a first-round NCAA game back in 2019.

Each team had 11 shots on goal and Cal had a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. But while Broncos goaltender Marlee Nicolos stopped all four shots that came her way, Cal’s Angelina Anderson was able to make just four saves on five attempts.

Cal beat Santa Clara 1-0 during the regular season, but Saturday was a different scenario.

The Bears, who were fourth in the Pac-12, finish the season at 10-5-6. Cal was playing Santa Clara for the eighth time in the postseason, and dropped to 1-6-1 in those games.

This game promised to be a defensive battle, and it took 109 minutes, 34 seconds  before someone finally scored. D’Aquila, who had six of the Broncos’ 11 shots, was assisted by Keren Goor and Annie Karich.

Cal had good scoring opportunities in the first half, but shots on goal by Keeley Roy at 29 minutes and Karlie Lema three minutes later were turned away by Nicholas.

The Bears allowed more than one goal in just two of 21 games this season while the Broncos recorded their ninth shutout and improved to 8-0-2 in their past 10 games.

Santa Clara (11-6-3) advances to a second-round game against No. 1 seed Notre Dame, which routed Omaha 5-0 on Saturday.

Photo of Cal's Karlie Lema by Andrew Madsen, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo