November 11th, 2006

Rainy, cold, and ridiculously early is what the Cal Men’s Lacrosse team woke up to Saturday morning. The Saint Mary’s tournament was the Bear’s chance to demonstrate that they are a force to be reckoned with this season. With 5 games on the schedule for the day long tournament, the guys seemed ready to play, willing to fight, and prepared to win. But they faced a tough draw with games against Pacific, Dominican, the always formidable Santa Clara, and vindictive Cal Poly and UC Davis, both of whom were still visibly sore from the beatings they received at the hands of the Golden Bears in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

The tournament was a good measure for Cal’s 2007 season, putting the Bears up against 2 of the teams in their WCLL Division A Central League. Their first game was against arguably the toughest team they would face, the Santa Clara Broncos, who were aided by a new all-American transfer from Cal Poly. The offense and the defense seemed to get off to a slow start allowing 2 goals with in the first 10 minutes of play, but Cal fought back to score 2 goals through Andrew Whitney ’09 (also with 1 assist) and David Parker ’09 with less than 5 minutes left. In the second half the Bears came out firing, but still had trouble converting their shots, many crashing off the crossbar. Santa Clara scored twice before the Golden Bears responded with 2 of their own from Tommy Mangold ’09 and Cameron Sampson ’08. Their resurgence continued but despite the efforts of super-star goalie Matt Schneider (who ended the game with 7 saves) the Bears were not able to contain the Broncos, who scored 2 last minute goals to win the game.

There wasn’t time to dwell on the loss because the guys knew they had an even tougher game coming up. The second game was against Cal Poly who, still bitter from their loss to Cal, were ready to prove that they’d been cheated in Vegas. The Bears came out blazing against the Mustangs, who were playing with more then just heart- they added some elbows, body slams, and vicious slashes. Both teams relied on their defenses to shut down the other team, which resulted in a low scoring first half. The Bears trailed the Mustangs 1 to 2, with Cal scoring through Sampson with Parker assisting. Cal proved their worth in the second half with Matt Schneider and the defense shutting out Cal Poly and Sampson and Ricky Pentella ’09 scoring the tying and the winning goals. Cal Poly almost scrambled a last second goal, which was quickly deemed one second too late for the Mustangs, destroying any hope of showing up the Bears. This wasn’t just a normal, friendly game of lacrosse. Cal Poly wanted it badly and tried to muscle their way through the game with body shaking hits, cheap slashes and sharp elbows instead of skill. Long stick mid-fielder Stephen Sharma ’07 felt the Mustang’s unnecessary muscle when he was smashed between a mid-fielder and a defender 10 minutes into the game, resulting in a concussion and the end of his tournament play. Sharma, Schneider, and Gene Pontes ’08 were later all taken to the emergency room; Schneider needing 6 stitches in his chin after getting hit by a helmet and Pontes with a sprained ankle from the Santa Clara game. All of their injuries were pronounced non-life-threatening, and Pontes and Schneider returned to cheer on their team mates later in the day while Sharma was taken care of by his family.

Fresh off their second win against Cal Poly, Cal then immediately turned around to play the Dominican Penguins. Coach Dini rested the starters to give the rest of the squad some much desired playing time. This game was a great demonstration of the depth of talent that the Bears have on their team this year. The Bears trailed by 1 at the end of the first half, having scored 3 goals- one each from Scott Ngai ’07, Brian McLucas ’08, and rookie Michael “Teo” Van Runkle ’10. The defense and rookie goalie Brian Wallace ’10 did an excellent job holding the Penguins to only one goal in the second half, while the offense tied up the game with a second goal by Van Runkle who was assisted by Mehraun “Mo” Nik-Ahd ’08 who also scored the second goal for the half. There was just enough time for sudden death over time where Cal lost its footing just long enough for Dominican to score first, winning the game.

The last two games posed a logistical problem; Cal was scheduled to play both games simultaneously. Coach Dini split the team into two squads sending the white squad to face Pacific with Coaches Nourse and Hill, while he led the blue squad to face UC Davis for the second time. Both squads had a hill to climb for their final games- they had already played 3 games, they were playing with only half of their team, and they had to play with the knowledge that their super-star football team had just lost to the University of Arizona. Yet the Bears persevered. The white squad didn’t just play well against Pacific, they embodied what Cal lacrosse is about. The final score of the game was 9 to 0. Nik-Ahd scored 4 of the 9 goals and had 2 assists, Oliver Miller ’08 scored 3 times, Ngai scored once and had 2 assists, McLucas put in another one, and Ben Davis ’09 had one assist. Stand out of the game was rookie goalie Steve Lea ’10 who played in his first lacrosse game ever and recorded a shut out stopping 100% of the shots taken by Pacific. The blue squad’s game against UC Davis was a little more of a bumpy ride. Davis like Cal Poly was out to prove that losing to Cal in Vegas was a fluke. However Cal proved themselves victorious again with a score of 3 to 2. The Bears ended the first half up by 2 with goals by Sampson and Parker and finished the game with their third and winning goal by Connor Dibble ’09. Again the pure depth of talent was shown when Brian Wallace took over for veteran goalie Schneider, whose 6 stitches and colorful band-aid prohibited him from playing. Wallace ended the game with 9 saves and only 2 goals allowed.

Winning was nice, and beating UC Davis and Cal Poly (who came with in a 1 point game of tournament favorite Sonoma State) for a second time was quite an ego boost but the most important part of the day was the realization that the team has a deep well of talent to draw from. Even with three veteran starters injured early, the Bears utilized what they had and came out victorious. The next few years will be exciting because every graduated player is followed by a former rookie willing and able to fill his shoes. And the future looks continually bright with solid recruits coming in from all over California. With freshmen all-stars like Luke Langon, Steven Saribalis, Justin Fung, and Brian Wallace, the Bears aren’t just showing themselves as a formidable opponent for this year alone but as a considerable rising force within the conference for years to come. If the last two tournaments are any indication; Coach Dini and the Bears have more than just a solid season to look forward to, but a spectacle for all to see.

Final scores:
Cal vs. UofA- 7-9, Cal vs. BYU 1-15,
Cal vs. UC Davis 6-5, Cal vs. Cal Poly 7-6

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… but not for long! The Best in the West Tournament held in Northern Las Vegas this weekend put 45 boys, 5 managers, 3 coaches, and 1 French exchange student on a bus last Thursday night to drive 10 hours into the heart of temptation for one goal- to play lacrosse. And play they did! The Bears made quite a showing at their first tournament of the year facing the Arizona Wild Cats in pre-tournament play, and meeting with the formidable BYU Cougars, Davis Aggies, and Cal Poly Mustangs in the tournament on Saturday. Though far from perfect the team showed cohesion and heart and a lot of school spirit. The team seemed to come with a single objective- improvement; and with a rather poor showing last year there was definitely some room for it. Coach Dini and the team took every play and every game as a learning experience tweaking strategy when necessary and always encouraging one another on and off the field. The tournament was tough and the team played some very good teams which made every possession, pass, and shot important. The team knew what they had to do and finished the tournament with their best record at this tournament yet- 2 and 2- beating fellow WCLL Div. A Central conference teams UC Davis and Cal Poly.

It was the last game against Cal Poly that ended up being the icing on the Golden Bear’s cake. After a slaughter from the Mustangs the year before the team knew they had a chance at redemption and went up against the Mustangs with intent and purpose. They were ultimately successful; beating Cal Poly 7 to 6. It was the energy and sense of enjoyment on and off the field that set the Bears apart. With chants of GO BEARS! during face-offs, and encouraging laughs and pats on the back when teammates were the victims of hits that would have made WWE highlight reels everyone could tell the team was having fun. While the tournament wasn’t all fun and games- well actually it was- business had to be taken care of too. With echo calls of Rodeo! Cowgirl! and Yellow! the sidelines helped their fellow teammates to some awesome stats. In tournament play Gene Pontes ‘08 reigned supreme scoring three goals (with the only goal against BYU); Cameron Sampson ‘08 had two goals, as did Ricky Pentella ‘09 (also with two assists), David Parker ‘09, and new comer Luke Langon ‘10; Austin Gilbert ‘08 and Andrew Whitney ‘09 (assisted by Tom Mangold ‘08) each had one goal. You can’t score without the ball and that is where Albert Wu ‘07 (deemed the King of Face-offs by British managers Holly Jones and Mina Holland) came in, winning over 15 face-offs during the day long tournament. Connor Dibble ‘09 and Luke Langon ‘10 also took their fair share of face-offs. The team managed to stay fairly healthy through the 2 days, leaving with only one more game related injury than they came with, with Zach Todaro ’08 holding that honor with a badly injured shoulder from a hard fall against BYU.

Once the games were over it was time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Vegas strip during Halloween. The team showed up in front of the Belagio in style with Andrew Whitney ‘08 showing his star wars pride as a pod racer, Shane Barclay ‘09 representing Cal as a fuzzy and cuddly blue and tie-dyed bear, and James Long ‘09 came wearing one of the realest looking fake mustaches ever. The entire team, along with their managers, then sang and danced along with the Belagio water show with the grace and talent befitting any Vegas stage. They also participated in a rousing rendition of “I am Proud to be an American” sung the loudest by British team manager Holly Jones, and many of the boys made friends with passers-by with compliments on costume and fashion choices.  And as can only happen in Vegas there was even a group who found that flagging down a limo was easier than a taxi and managed to take one around town. Team members weren’t the only ones who found a little fun in Vegas, even steadfast Coach Dini had to take a break from his heart-string pulling, fire under the butt lighting speeches. After a brief gambling stint at the blackjack table Dini claims to have gone home and to sleep at 8:30- the team is now offering to pay for any incriminating pictures of the coach out on the strip past that time (preferably arm-in-arm with a showgirl or teaching an Elvis impersonator how play lacrosse).
After this weekend it’s obvious that the Cal lacrosse team has the talent, the drive, and the creativity to play well and beat almost any team they face. All that’s left now is to just sit back, relax, and enjoy their show.