BERKELEY, Calif. -- No. 1 Northwestern scored eight goals in each half and had seven different players score goals en route to a 16-9 win over California in its season opener Sunday. Hilary Bowen scored a game-high six goals and goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop made seven saves in net. With the win, Northwestern is 1-0 on the year. California falls to 0-1.

Bowen got her offensive afternoon started early with a goal less than a minute into the contest off a free position. Junior Casey Donohoe followed that up with a free position goal of her own just over two minutes into the contest to give the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead. Cal scored three-straight goals to pull ahead 3-2 before the Wildcats hit nylon five-straight times to open up a 7-3 advantage. Nearly one minute after Cal took the lead on an unassisted goal by Danni Zuralow, Ali Jacobs scored her first goal of the year to even the score.

Sophomore Danielle Spencer and Bowen accounted for the next four goals. All 10 goals in the contest to that point were unassisted. Donohoe scored her second goal of the game off an assist by junior Hannah Nielsen late in the first half to give the Wildcats a 8-4 advantage heading into the break.

NU opened up another six-goal lead after two more goals to open the second half. Cal closed the gap to 10-5 before Bowen scored another two unassisted goals to give the Wildcats a seven goal advantage. Katrina Dowd and Nielsen both got into the goal-scoring column midway through the second half, and after goals by Bowen and Spencer, the Wildcats took their season opener, 19-6.

Twenty-Two Wildcats saw action in the season opener and Lathrop made seven saves on 19 shots. The Wildcats out shot Cal 35-19 and maintained a 14-13 advantage in draw controls.

No. 1 Northwestern returns to action at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, February 24, at Rutgers. It will be the second of three-straight road games to start the season. NU will play its first game at the new Lakeside Field at 4:00 p.m. Friday, March 7, against Duquesne.

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BERKELEY, Calif. - Danni Zuralow scored four goals and Morgan Dyson made 13 saves in California's season opener, but the Golden Bears (0-1) lost, 16-9, to No. 1 Northwestern (1-0) on Sunday at Memorial Stadium. Zuralow also dished out two assists to tie Northwestern's Hilary Bowen (6 goals) for game-high scoring honors.

Cal's only lead of the day against the three-time defending NCAA champions was at 3-2 at the 10:10 mark of the first half.

The game marked the debut of Cal's new coaching staff, led by head coach Theresa Sherry, whose team produced Cal's smallest margin of defeat in the brief all-time series with the Wildcats. The previous low margin was 11 in a 16-5 loss at Northwestern in 2006. The Bears are now 0-5 in the all-time series with the Wildcats.

"We had a lot of great moments; that's what we're proud of," Sherry said. "What I think we're proudest of is the intensity we brought for the entirety of the game. What we have to work on now is following up these great plays that we make with another great play instead of a turnover or some sort of mistake in the midfield. But it's a good start. It leaves them hungry for the rest of the season. With some of those moments today, that showed them what they're capable of."

Dyson, in her first career start as a Bear, put up a career-high saves total to keep Cal in the game, despite Northwestern outshooting the Bears, 35-19.

"She was just as we expected," Sherry said. "She had a strong presence in the cage and I'm really proud of the way she played, especially of the way she came up big when our defense was tired.

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2008-02-17