Cal Maritime men’s rugby team drops opener to Fresno State
The Cal Maritime men’s ruby team dropped its season opener to visiting Fresno State, 29-24, on Saturday at Bodnar Field.
With the Keelhaulers ahead by two with just over six minutes remaining, Fresno State turned its deficit into a five-point lead by recording its final try of the afternoon and converting on the ensuing conversion kick.
Now trailing by five, Cal Maritime marched down the field on numerous possessions throughout the final six minutes of action, but the visiting Bulldogs were successful in burning as much time off the scoreboard as possible whenever they had the ball, as their final seven points of the afternoon were the last recorded by either team.
“We improved in all facets of the game, compared to its home exhibition vs. Berkeley Men’s RFC, but we did not improve as much as we should have to win this game,” said head coach Steve Hiatt. “It was great to see new guys making positive contributions.
Saturday’s matchup started with the Bulldogs recording the first try of the game within the opening minute of action, but Cal Maritime responded well by scoring 10 unanswered to take the lead midway through the first half.
Cross Country
NGUYEN, ALONSO EXCEL AT RYAN NUNEZ BOBCAT INVITE >> Senior Katherine Nguyen and junior Sarai Alonso each posted personal records for Cal Maritime cross country in Saturday’s Ryan Nunez Bobcat Invitational, hosted by UC Merced. The pair completed the 5k on-campus course in 23 minutes and 48.82 seconds and 35:00.91 to finish 20th and 29th, respectively.
By clocking a 25:06.66, Julia Mast ended her morning in 23rd place, and Nguyen completed Cal Maritime’s contingent of women’s cross country runners by finishing 28th with a time of 30:22.93.
Isaiah Sullivan led a group of nine Keelhaulers who tackled UC Merced’s 4-mile course, which helped prep every Cal Maritime harrier for the remaining weeks of the 2021 season.
Sullivan (23:29.82) and Nick Yarusso (23:39.27) were the first Keelhaulers to finish; the pair were responsible for the 25th and 26th-fastest times. Trevor Hodges (24:18.58) and Kye McKeown (24:23.86) were the next pair of teammates to finish right after one another and captured 29th and 30th place.
Following Harry Bragg’s 33rd-place result (24:38.88), Andrew Scannel (25.43.96) finished two places after his teammate. Ried Zieber (27:07.89), Justin Storrs (28:15.92) and Jacob Gutierrez (28:26.00) ended their morning in 36th, 38th and 39th.
Cal Maritime will compete in its second meet, in as many weeks, when it heads to Rocklin on Saturday, Oct. 23, to run in the William Jessup XC Warrior Invitational.
Women’s Soccer
WESTCLIFF 12, CAL MARITIME 0 >> Competing in its longest road trip of the season this weekend, Cal Maritime ended its swing through Southern California at Great Park in Sunday’s non-conference match against the Westcliff Warriors with a 12-0 loss.
Even though both teams compete in the California Pacific Conference, this was not considered a league matchup since the Keelhaulers and Warriors do not compete in the same division.
A group of four Keelhaulers — Becca Masliah, Amanda Carvalho, Lilli Gregg and Jackie Garcia — were collectively responsible or their team’s shots, with the first two recording shots on goal during the second half.
The Cal Maritime loss pushed the Keelhaulers’ overall record to 0-6 and improved Westcliff’s mark to 4-4.
Cal Maritime will conclude a road-heavy portion of its schedule that includes four straight games taking place outside of Vallejo on Friday when the team heads to UC Merced on Friday for its first official conference game. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
Men’s Soccer
WESTCLIFF 8, CAL MARITIME 0 >> The longest road trip of the season for the Cal Maritime men’s soccer team concluded on Sunday when Cal Maritime lost to Westcliff 8-0.
The host Warriors scored their first goal of the morning at the 10-minute mark, and eventually held a 3-0 lead at the half. Once action resumed, they extended that lead to five before tacking on another three late goals to defeat the Keelhaulers, 8-0.
The final game of four in a row, played outside Vallejo, will take place on Friday when Cal Maritime faces UC Merced in a Cal Pac Conference game that is slated for 7:30. The Keelhaulers will enter that contest with an overall record of 0-5-1. Westcliff will continue its season at 7-2-2 and remain undefeated at home this year.