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Freshman hoopster Lawson leaves school 

Freshman guard Michael Lawson has decided to leave the University for personal family reasons, Cal basketball coach Ben Braun announced Wednesday.  

Lawson signed with Cal out of Alhambra HS in Martinez last May, but has decided to leave school before the start of the season. He was a second team All-Metro selection by the San Francisco Examiner as a senior and scored more than 2,100 points during his career.  

“It is with great sadness and for personal family reasons that I have decided to leave the University of California,” Lawson said. “I want to publicly thank Coach Braun and the University of California for the opportunity to attend one of the best universities in the country. It is with a great deal of regret that I leave a wonderful situation and fantastic people. I truly appreciate the support of all the Cal staff, coaches and players.”  

Added Braun: “I understand and am supportive of Michael’s desire to leave for personal family reasons. I know this was a difficult decision, and I wish him the best during his career.” 

The loss of Lawson leaves the Bears with only two incoming freshmen, forwards Gabriel Hughes and Saulius Kuzminskas. The Bears are left with just three true guards for the upcoming season. 

Lawson’s departure opened a scholarship for the program, which Braun quickly gave to senior Morgan Lingle. 

Lingle, a 6-2 guard, had been a walk-on member of the team for three years before receiving the scholarship opportunity for this year. He was the recipient of Cal’s Outstanding Student-Athlete Award in 1999 and the squad’s Hustle Award in 1998. This season, Lingle will serve as team co-captain along with senior forward Sean Lampley.  

A graduate of Ramona HS in Ramona, Calif., Lingle has appeared in just 11 games during his Cal career, but has been a key member of the “gold” team that works out against the starting group in practice.  

Field hockey downs SW Missouri St. 

After squeaking out all three of their previous wins in overtime this season, Cal’s field hockey squad finally came out victorious in regulation, as they downed Southwest Missouri State, 3-1.  

The Golden Bears (4-3 overall, 2-0 in NorPac Conference), struck first as freshman Nora Feddersen scored off a penalty corner at 17:10 of the first half.  

SW Missouri St. (5-4 overall, 3-1 in NorPac Conference) tied the score later in the period as junior midfielder Shelby Faust pushed a goal in during a tangle of players near the goal at 4:48.  

The second half saw Cal taking the lead at 27:24 as Elizabeth Harkins slapped a shot which SW Missouri St. goalkeeper Monnie Elzy had no real chance of stopping.  

With SW Missouri St. threatening to knot the game, Cal caught a break when a SW Missouri St. player fell onto the ball near the goal while trying to save an otherwise sure-fire goal.  

Cal was awarded a penalty stroke at 18:58, as senior back Leticia Galyean connected on a shot to the lower right-hand corner to put the Golden Bears up, 3-1.  

“The ball got stuck between the players legs and we were trying to pull it out,” said Harkins.  

The Golden Bears looked sharp after only three days rest from a long road trip to the east coast.  

“I think our trip showed. There was more poise and a little more organization,” said coach Shellie Onstead. “We were able to sustain the attack and they (players) realized that our system will work if they work the system.”  

Cal beat a good SW Missouri State team that went into Wednesday’s game with a 3-0 record in conference play after edging out Stanford Tuesday in double overtime.  

The Golden Bears have little time to celebrate as they prepare to face another conference foe Saturday at Stanford. “It was a little hard this week not to look ahead (to Stanford),” said Onstead. “I had to really make an effort not to start talking (to the team) about Saturday.”  

Cal has a chance to take sole possession of first place in the NorPac with a win against the Cardinal. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Stanford. 

Cal stages comeback against San Jose St. 

Cal’s women’s volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit, including being shutout in game two, to defeat San Jose State 3-2 (13-15, 0-15, 15-13, 15-12, 15-12), Tuesday night at the RSF Fieldhouse.  

It was Cal’s third-straight five-game match, as the Bears had two five-game matches last weekend against Oregon and Oregon State. Cal was shut out in the second game, the first time they had been shut out in a game since Sept. 4, 1998 by No. 1 ranked Long Beach State.  

“At halftime I asked the team to pick a lineup they wanted for games three, four and five that would win,” said head coach Rich Feller. “And, the team promised that they would win and they did.”  

Cal played poorly in the first two games. In game one, the Bears squandered a 8-4 lead and allowed San Jose State to break a 13-13 tie to win, 15-13. In game two, Cal was completely overwhelmed.  

After the break, the Bears slowly worked back into contention. A kill by senior Alicia Perry and an ace by sophomore Reena Pardiwala broke a 13-13 tie to win game three, 15-13. A block by Pardiwala and sophomore Caity Noonan sealed a 15-12 win in game four and then Cal took control of game five, winning 15-12 with the help of two kills by freshman Gabrielle Abernathy and a kill by sophomore Leah Young to break away from a 12-11 game.  

Perry led the Bears with a team-high 26 kills and Young added 13 kills. Noonan had a team-high 22 digs. San Jose State was paced by Joslynn Gallop and Liz Hudson with 22 kills apiece.  

Cal (5-3) will next host No. 7 ranked UCLA Friday and then take on No. 6 ranked USC Saturday. Both Pac-10 matches will be at 7 p.m. at the Recreational Sports Facility.