Kadono's Late Goal Carries Cal Past UC Davis

September 11, 2015

BERKELEY, Calif. – The California Golden Bears (3-1-0) defeated the UC Davis Aggies (1-4-0) 2-1 on Friday afternoon at Goldman Field at Edwards Stadium in Berkeley. The Bears were buoyed by goals from redshirt sophomore forward Matt Chasman and freshman midfileder Shinya Kadono, who tallied in the second half. Kadono's 81st minute blast pushed the lead at the time to 2-0, and Cal withstood a late charge by the visiting Aggies to hold on to the 2-1 victory. After seizing a two-goal lead, UC Davis pressed on, and cut the deficit in half just two minutes from time through senior midfielder Matt Weisenfarth, but the Bears were able to secure the three points, surviving the late Aggies flurry.

“It was a really good performance, especially in the second half where we were able to score two high quality goals,” head coach Kevin Grimes said on Friday night following the game. “UC Davis is a very good team and played all the way down to the last second. It was a real exciting match and they are going to have a very good season and really make a run for the Big West title this year.”

The first half was one of many half chances, primarily for the home side. The best opportunity for the Bears came just before the stroke of 30 minutes. Some good combination play found the ball at the feet of sophomore forward Paul Salcedo. His ball played through set up Chasman, sending him through on Davis goalkeeper Kris Schultz. Chasman’s shot from close range was saved very well by Schultz, and things were level at the break.

Cal came out of the locker room and started to really generate some quality opportunities. The Golden Bears nearly broke through in the 56^th minute, when Salcedo chipped a cross that found junior forward Christian Thierjung at the back post. His tight-angled shot from close range was somehow kept out by Schultz, and deflected off the goalkeeper and onto the top netting. Just moments later, it was redshirt sophomore midfielder Jose Carrera-Garcia, who nearly struck first, as his curling effort from just inside the area went inches wide of the near post, and into the side netting.

The Bears finally had their first in the 73^rd minute. Sophomore defender Ugo Rebecchini played a teasing ball through the six-yard box and picked out a charging Chasman, who finished at the back post to lift the Bears to a 1-0 advantage.

“We had some struggles in the first half,” Chasman said of the team’s performance. “On the goal, I tried to just tried to make sure I got to the back post with my run and I am not even sure what it hit, might have been my knee, but I’ll take it. We just kept working, and Shinya scored a great goal and this was a very good result for us. We just have to tune up a couple of things and we will work on tightening those up this coming week at training.”

Just eight minutes later, the Bears doubled their tally. Salcedo worked his way into the box and laid a ball off to Carrera-Garcia. The Ontario, California, native played a wonderfully weighted chip in behind the defense to Kadono, who took one touch off of his chest and blasted his shot into the net off of the underside of the crossbar.

“Paul laid off the ball pretty nicely to Jose, who found me at the far post,” Kadono said of his first collegiate goal. “He chipped it in over the defender and I just had to blast it into the goal. We won today, but still had some lessons to learn at the end of the game and next week we will work to improve those things as we move on to the next one.”

A two-goal lead is thought of to be the most dangerous to hold in soccer, and that proved to be the case tonight, as UC Davis pulled one back in the 88^th minute of play. A long ball played forward glanced off of a California defender and right into the path of Weisenfarth, who made no mistake, finishing past a sprawling Alex Mangels to cut the lead in half. The Aggies fought for an equalizer late, but it was not to be, as Cal captured its third consecutive victory, 2-1.

California returns to action on Friday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. when it hosts Davidson and then welcomes San Francisco on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. at Edwards Stadium. Fans are encouraged to interact with @CalMensSoccer on Twitter during the matches and can stay up to date on statistics and live updates during the games.