The first of two Cal (1-1) and Stanford (2-1) games occurred in Berkeley during the Bears’ homecoming weekend, and it was a stellar battle that was decided on the final play of the match. The teams will contest their DI Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference (PMRC) rematch on Feb. 29 in Palo Alto.
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Stanford won its first two league matches – 20-0 against UC Davis and 50-19 against Fresno State – while Cal was coming off a 12-10 loss to the Aggies. The Bears did get back five starters who were absent in the season-opener, and that helped.
“We have a bit of a tough attacking structure for us to even be on board with,” Cal co-captain Alyssa Collins said of take-aways from Davis. “I think our communication wasn’t great against Davis. Our spacing wasn’t great. We were doing all the hard things really well but we weren’t doing the easy things right – catching and passing, placing the ball right, doing the work on the ground, rucks also. But we got some of those easy things as well today on top of the hard things we did last week.”
The first 15 minutes were spent mostly in Cal’s end but the Bears’ defense didn’t break and held up two Stanford tries in the first half. The home team started to spend more meaningful time in attacking territory as the first quarter ended, and just missed out on a try with a forward pass. From the next possession, however, a piercing run from prop Alicia Hernandez-Miyares set up the dive-over try, which Izzy Roberson converted, 7-0 to Cal.
Cal flyhalf and co-captain Alyssa Collins
Cal did a very good job of returning Dakota Bailey-Van Kuren and Avery Tallman’s clearance kicks, so while there were changes of possession, the game stayed in Stanford’s half. Another forward pass to wing Denecia Fernandes, who is so dangerous with ball in hand and a little room, halted another would-be try for Cal. But minutes later, the powerful Elena Mateus barreled through out-stretched arms for the try, which Roberson converted: 14-0.
Stanford responded as the half closed, and got constant go-forward from loose forward Seneca Friend, front row Kim Juarez Rico and wily wing Sally Egan. Cal had trouble with offsides in the lineout, and Friend would have scored if Fernandes didn’t get her body between the ball and the turf. The half ended with Cal up 14-0.
“Our defense was super organized in the first half and it was good when we had the ball in hand. But defense is exhausting,” Collins reviewed the first half. “Our tryline defense was amazing and I think a lot of that came down to heart and stuff. We had some girls making big hits that normally don’t. I think people really stepped up, especially the subs coming in.”
The second half saw Stanford surge, and the Cardinal found success with its driving lineout. Cal was resolute on its try line but the always steady Nicole Edsall finally broke free for the visitors’ first try, which Anna Park converted, 14-7.
Cal started to lose some shape and Bears head coach Elvis Sevealii could be heard from the sideline, encouraging his players to play with composure. Three consecutive penalties allowed Stanford to extend a sustained pick-and-go campaign at the Cal line, but ballcarriers took a high body position into contact, making the driving tackles easier. Finally, Juarez Rico found a seam for the try, 14-12 to Cal.
Stanford kept building and got a nice boost from impact subs like Crystal Chidume. Friend burst through the middle of the defense, and after concentrating activity in tight, the ball moved wide to wing Hannah Kohatsu for the lead-changing score, 17-14.
“There honestly was a moment that I got nervous – after they scored the try that put them up,” Collins said. “But we looked at each other, ‘Maybe we’re a little out of shape and maybe we’re exhausted but we have the biggest heart on the field and we need to show that we have the biggest heart.’ And that brought us through.”
Cal was stronger in the scrum and a couple of steals provided some relief later in the game. A blocked kick at midfield also provided some inspiration to keep pushing for another score.
“We had some power subs come in about halfway, and they made such a world of a difference,” Collins said. “We had some really bad line speed toward the end of the half, I think because we were just tired, but they really upped the tempo. And that’s part of the reason why we won.”
Juarez Rico was held up in the try zone, setting up a five-meter attacking scrum in the middle of the field for Cal. The backs were well spaced on one side of the pitch, as the game’s final play set up.
“We have a great eight – Zoe Durbin. We just got her this year. And we have been running that eightman pick,” Collins set up the final play. “We have this play in our back pocket that we hadn’t called all game and it’s perfect in that midfield scrum. We have a great wing out wide – Denecia Fernandes – so we called that play actually kind of last moment. And it didn’t exactly go as planned, but Izzy and Denecia made a great run of it.”
Durbin was meant to pick from the back and pass to Roberson looping around the scrum, but couldn’t get hands on the ball. So Roberson took the ball off the back and angled toward the sideline before releasing the final pass to Fernandes, who beat her opposite and dove into the corner. The sidelines erupted, as did the Cal players. After the conversion attempt, the hooter sounded: 19-17 to Cal.
“For us, especially being a team that hasn’t always had a winning record, especially in past years, and especially coming off of Davis knowing we could have probably won that game – it’s a huge morale boost,” Collins said of the win’s impact. “It puts us on a good front foot for the rest of the season and we have the confidence to go into the next game against Fresno and then Chico and all those, knowing that we’re a winning team. Because I don’t think we’ve ever felt that we are.”
Look at the intensity of the crowd!
In the fall, Collins and fellow co-captain Hope Cooper – who also had a knockout day at hooker and flanker – led Cal to a PMRC berth to 7s nationals. The duo had encouraged those 7s teammates to remember and bank that feeling of achievement and chase it into the 15s season.
“I feel it, we feel it,” Collins said of the continuation from the fall. “We talked about it when we just wrapped up here and one of the other girls said, ‘This is what it feels like to be a winning team. Let’s get used to this. Let’s expect this,’ because we don’t always expect to be a winning team even though we do want it. And now all 23 girls on the roster and everyone on the bench knows how it feels instead of just the 13 at 7s. I’m really excited for the season.”
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