Cal Ties No. 21 UC Irvine 1-1
BERKELEY - Tommy Williamson scored late to give the Cal men's soccer team what ultimately finished as a 1-1 tie with No. 21 UC Irvine through double overtime on a warm Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
Noah Texter got the start in goal and made eight saves for the Golden Bears, whose record now stands at 1-0-1. Ford Parker made six saves through 110 minutes for 0-1-1 UC Irvine.
Cal outshot the Anteaters, 25-14, for the game. In overtime, Cal outshot UC Irvine, 6-2.
On the Bears' goal, freshman midfielder Fahmi Ibrahim took a shot that was blocked, and the ball rolled into Williamson's path in the Irvine box. The junior forward scored past Parker at 79:08 to even the game.
Beto Alvarenga had given the Anteaters a 1-0 lead with a goal early in the second half at 51:45.
"I'm proud of the effort of 110 minutes of fantastic work rate and mental toughness," Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. "And I'm proud of after being down a goal pulling one back to tie. Tommy had a great finish, and the team knows now that when we're down late, we have the ability to get a goal. You're always going to be disappointed when you tie a game, but you can't be disappointed in the effort."
Texter started ahead of fellow senior goalkeeper Drake Callender, who started Cal's 1-0 season-opening win on Aug. 30. Both talented keepers had All-Pac-12 honors last season, with Callender earning a second-team spot and Texter collecting honorable mention.
"Noah and Drake are excellent goalkeepers, and we have a long season ahead of us," Grimes said. "The more minutes we can get for both of them, the better it is for our team."
"Kudos to the guys for pulling out the tie on this one," Texter added. "It's a luxurious learning experience to tie a game that we definitely have a lot to go off of."
Cal next plays at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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