[CALIFORNIA-OREGON STATE: Men] No. 1 California remained unbeaten with a 3-1 win over Oregon State in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Stefano Bonomo, Omid Jalali and Steve Birnbaum scored for the Bears, who improved their record to7-0-1.
“It was a great win over a very good Oregon State team that came in with a 7-2 record, so we knew this would be a hard-fought match today,” Cal coach
Ryan Neil set up Bonomo with across deep into the OSU box on Cal’s first goal and then assisted Birnbaum’s goal with a corner kick on the third.
Jalali scored his second goal after coming off the bench this yearto make the score 2-0.
After Birnbaum made it 3-0 with his fourth headed goal of the season and his team-leading sixth of the year in the 49th minute, Cal coasted.
Beargoalkeeper Justin Taillole made one save, in the first half, before giving way to backup Alex Mangels in the 75thminute. Three minutes later, the Beavers scored their only goal when Mike Reckmeyer converted a Brendan Woodfullpass.
“Cal put us under a lot of pressure with their possession,” said Beavers coach Steve Simmons. “We weren’t ableto keep the passes as simple as we wanted to, and they got the momentum early on. I think our guys did well to adjust after falling behind. We’re disappointed with the result, because wedidn’t put together the complete game we wanted to, but we improved in the second half and there were positives to take away.”