The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Cal-Stanford Nike Classic
No. 5 Cal Downs Travel-Weary Blazers, 3-1
9/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 24, 2005
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The No. 5 Golden Bears got a header from Caleb Carr in the 33rd minute to break a 1-1 tie and California added a second half tally while avoiding a relentless second half UAB attack to beat the Blazers, 3-1, Saturday afternoon in the first game of the 2005 Stanford Nike Classic. Jerson Monteiro's header in the 26th minute drew the 1-1 tie but proved to be UAB's only goal. The Blazers fall to 5-2 on the year.
"I thought we played well and created a lot of chances, but we have to eliminate our mistakes if we're going to beat the best teams in the country," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "We played a solid game, but made two mistakes that cost us. Cal is a very good team and certainly deserving of their high ranking."
Pieter Berger drew net for the Golden Bears (6-0-1) in the 22nd minute on a left side pass from Carr to get the scoring started. UAB answered four minutes later when Monteiro took a double-pass from Leandro de Oliveira and Jason McLaughlin and scored from the right flank to tie the match.
Carr's 33rd minute strike past UAB goalkeeper A.J. Robles proved to be the game-winner. Carr received the left cross from Steve Purdy. Andrew Jacobson scored the insurance goal for Cal in the 46th minute.
"The rest of the match saw us attacking them and then them counter-attacking us," Getman said. "Both teams had some very good chances in the last 15 or 20 minutes, but we just couldn't find the net."
The contest was the end result of a travel saga for Getman and the Blazers which saw UAB take 27 hours to make the cross-country trek. UAB's original travel plans were scrapped Thursday Hurricane Rita closed air travel though the Houston area, a stop-over point on the Blazers' flight. UAB bussed to Atlanta Thursday evening for alternate flight plans. The Blazers arrived in San Francisco at roughly 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 p.m. PT Friday - some 27 hours after their original departure from UAB's campus.
In light of UAB's travel situation, Stanford, Cal and Army all agreed to rearrange the Nike Classic schedule to accommodate the Blazers' altered plans. UAB was supposed to face Stanford late Friday night with the Cal clash coming Sunday afternoon.
"Good teams take adversity and learn from it," Getman said. "We played well against a very good team, but made a couple of mistakes that cost us. Hopefully, we'll learn from the mistakes and the adversity we faced today and be better for it."
Cal has not lost since bowing out of the NCAA Tournament last season. That result came at the hands of new Conference USA member SMU, which is next up on UAB's schedule after the weekend in California.
UAB will close out play in the Stanford Nike Classic with Sunday's night cap against the host Cardinal at 7 p.m. PT/9 p.m. CT. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
