April 19, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - California advanced to the national semifinals with its 74-6 win over the Cal Poly Mustangs today. Winger Ryan Taylor and flanker Rikus Pretorius both scored hat tricks and six other Golden Bears had tries as Cal exited the Rounds of 16 & 8 without yielding a try to the opposition.

The Bears needed but two minutes to get on the scoreboard against the Mustangs, with lock Paul Jesseman finishing a sequence of rucks for the first of 12 tries for Cal on the day.

Flyhalf Keegan Engelbrecht missed the conversion from the left corner into a stiff breeze, and missed his next attempt as well, but the junior calibrated his kicks to compensate for the wind and finished the match 7-for-12 in addition to his second-half try, giving him 19 points.

Cal Poly was down 24-0 before the Mustangs got into the scoring column, with winger Martin Phelean connecting from 40 meters. Phelean missed another penalty kick two minutes later, but connected one more time from inside 10 meters at minute 33 to make it 24-6 in Cal's favor.

Two minutes later, Cal's Taylor raced to a loose ball, kicked ahead twice and pounced on it in the try zone for his first score. He quickly added a 60-meter counter-attack try and another touchdown right before halftime to notch one of the quickest hat tricks imaginable.

"The work we've been putting in is paying off, and I think another two weeks of practice can put us into an even better position to reach our potential," Taylor said.

Pretorius finished his hat trick seven minutes into the first half and was replaced by sophomore Tom Rooke three minutes later.

Fellow flanker Joe Welch moved up to front row today to play hooker for the Bears, and his extended practice sessions throwing the ball in recent weeks seemed to pay off, as he consistently found his mark on lineout throws.

"The lifters and jumpers sure made it easy on me," Welch said.

"Our mentality was pretty straightforward: stay on the ball the whole game, keep our work rate real high and every else would follow. We've got another two weeks to go, and we'll see how far we can take it."

Cal Poly never stopped trying to take it into the try zone as Bears head coach Jack Clark rotated more subs into the match, but the Mustangs had no better luck than Tennessee on Friday. Sophomore Neill Barrett, who had replaced Welch, tracked down a speedy Cal Poly winger close to the zone with a minute to play, denying the opposition's final offensive attack of the weekend.

Cal will face Saint Mary's in the national semifinals May 2 at Stanford. The Gaels turned away Kutztown University today, 37-25, to win Pool D.

The winner of the Cal-St. Mary's semifinal will face the winner of BYU vs. Colorado for the national championship May 3.

Round of 8, Saturday Summary

Pool A:
Cal 74, Cal Poly 6 (semifinal qualifier)
Tennessee 49, Army 44 OT (consolation)

Pool B:
BYU 30, SDSU 14 (semifinal qualifier)
Arkansas State 44, Dartmouth 17 (consolation)

Pool C:
Colorado 58, Penn State 55 OT (semifinal qualifier)
Minnesota 31,Utah 18 (consolation)

Pool D:
St. Mary's 37, Kutztown 25 (semifinal qualifier)
Air Force 45, Bowling Green 34 (consolation)

National Semifinals, May 2, Stanford
California vs. Saint Mary's
BYU vs. Colorado

National Championship, May 3, Stanford

The Scoring Timeline vs. Cal Poly:

02:00 Paul Jesseman 5

14:00 Rikus Pretorius 5

21:00 Sean Gallinger 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

25:00 Rikus Pretorius 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

28:00 Cal Poly (Martin Phelean) 3

33:00 Cal Poly (Martin Phelean) 3

35:00 Ryan Taylor 5

38:00 Ryan Taylor 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

40:00 Ryan Taylor 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

Half Time: California 43, Cal Poly 6

44:00 James Besser 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

47:00 Rikus Pretorius 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

60:00 Jason Law 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

68:00 Keegan Engelbrecht 5

71:00 Eric Strack 5

Final Score: California 74, Cal Poly 6

The Team vs. Cal Poly:

15. Hawley (L. Yancey @ 57:00), 14. Muhn, 13. Gallinger, 12. Golding (D. Watson @ 51:00), 11. Taylor, 10. Engelbrecht, 9. Triplett, 1. Besser, 2. Welch (Barrett @ 72:00), 3. Fry (Strack @ 61:00), 4. Snellgrove, 5. Jesseman, 6. Balough, 7. Pretorius © (Rooke @ 50:00), 8. Stanfill (Law @ 50:00)