National Championship, Saturday 5:00 p.m. PST
California vs. Brigham Young
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May 2, 2008

STANFORD - The Golden Bears built a 17-point halftime lead and withstood a determined Saint Mary's side to win their national semifinal against the Gaels, 41-31, Friday at Stanford. California faces Brigham Young Saturday at 5:00 p.m. for the third straight year in the national collegiate championship.

The Bears grabbed the lead three minutes into the match in their wire-to-wire win and ended the first 40 with four different Bears scoring tries, complemented by nine points from sophomore flyhalf Sean Gallinger on three conversions and a penalty.

Saint Mary's found the try zone with 10 minutes left in the first stanza, when prop Matt Crawford bulled his way to score from eight meters off a penalty restart. Flyhalf Matt Leatherby added the conversion (3-for-5).

Only two minutes later, Gaels fullback Austin Mount finished a 60-meter attack to bring Saint Mary's to within 14 points.

Gallinger's penalty boot to end the half widened the margin again before the two teams locked up in more than 15 minutes of scoreless rugby. Then Cal lock Paul Jesseman notched his second try of the day on a pass from center Gary Golding following a Gaels turnover. But Saint Mary's answered back within five minutes as scrumhalf Chad Clark eluded the Bears defense to score on a 25-meter burst.

Cal fullback Colin Hawley scored a try in the corner near the clustered Saint Mary's supporters to quiet them six minutes later, but as the Bears shuttled a couple of players from their mixed lineup off the field, the Gaels were not done, scoring late back-to-back tries.

"Nice game," said Gaels head coach Tim O'Brien of his team's effort. "They competed valiantly. We had them under a little bit more pressure, more in the open field than in any of the tight stuff. But when they wanted to take it to us inside, they did a pretty good job."

Cal exits the day with plans to make as many as seven lineup changes tomorrow before facing BYU once again for all the marbles. In the second semifinal of the day, the Cougars dispatched Colorado, 42-13, to set up tomorrow's rematch redux.

Said Cal head coach Jack Clark, "We came in knowing that any of these four teams can win the national championship. So we're very happy to advance and we reckon tomorrow will be a very difficult game."

Semifinals Friday Summary:
Cal 41, Saint Mary's 31
BYU 42, Colorado 13

The Scoring Timeline vs. Saint Mary's:

03:00 Gary Golding 5, Sean Gallinger 2

10:00 Rikus Pretorius 5, Sean Gallinger 2

14:00 Paul Jesseman 5, Sean Gallinger 2

24:00 Ryan Taylor 5

30:00 Saint Mary's (Matt Crawford) 5, (Matt Leatherby) 2

32:00 Saint Mary's (Austin Mount) 5

40:00 Sean Gallinger 3

Half Time: California 29, Saint Mary's 12

56:00 Paul Jesseman 5, Sean Gallinger 2

61:00 Saint Mary's (Chad Clark) 5, (Matt Leatherby) 2

67:00 Colin Hawley 5

77:00 Saint Mary's (Kyle Batten) 5, (Matt Leatherby) 2

80:00 Saint Mary's (Conor Coyne) 5

Final Score: California 41, Saint Mary's 31

The Team vs. Saint Mary's:

15. Hawley, 14. Muhn, 13. D. Watson, 12. Golding, 11. Taylor, 10. Gallinger, 9. Mase, 1. Strack, 2. Barrett, 3. Fry (Fujimoto @ 73:00), 4. Casias (Vaught @ 61:00), 5. Jesseman, 6. Law, 7. Pretorius © (Rooke @ 73:00), 8. Stanfill