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Kevin Boyd said his team would be strong on the attack. It looks like he was right. 

Boyd’s Cal Bears started their season with a bang, as four different players scored goals in a 4-0 win over Pacific in the first round of the Cal Invitational. Midfielders Kim Yokers and Kim Stocklmeir each had two assists in the victory. 

“With four players scoring goals, I think it shows that we have great depth in terms of scoring,” Boyd said. “We need to spread the scoring around more this year.” 

The need for more threats up front this year isn’t a knock on last year’s top scorer, junior Laura Schott. But Schott, who scored 23 goals last season, is going to be a marked woman all year as teams try to shut her down. So Sabo others must make teams pay for lavishing so much attention on their All-America teammate. 

“Laura is going to be a marked player this year, so we need other players to score to take the pressure off of her,” Boyd said. 

Schott had several opportunities to score just before and after halftime on Thursday, but didn’t manage to find the back of the net until the 68th minute, scoring the final goal of the game. Midfielder Kim Yokers played a beautiful through ball to Schott, who burst past a defender to collect the ball, then dribbled around substitute goalkeeper Cassandra Kaeding and slotted the ball into the open net. 

“I was a little frustrated for a while, but they can’t all go in,” Schott said. 

The game started slowly, as both teams shook off the offseason rust. The crowd of 300 at Edwards Stadium didn’t see much offense early. Cal forward Krysti Whalen had the best scoring chance, clashing with Pacific goalkeeper Megan Pickering for a ball and sending it out of bounds 20 minutes into the match. Schott created a shot for herself a minute later, beating two defenders, but Pickering saved her long shot easily. 

Soon after that shot, the Tigers started hammering Schott, as Pickering crashed into her legs after the whistle. Seconds later, Schott took an elbow to the mouth from Pacific defender Angela Allgaier. The Cal star was on the receiving end of a lot of hard shots on Thursday, a pattern that will likely continue well into the season as teams try to slow her down. 

The Bears finally broke through for a goal in the 27th minute, and it came from a surprising source. Defender Ashley Mueller put a long ball into the Pacific box, and midfielder Kassie Doubrava hit a glancing header past Pickering for first career goal at Cal. Doubrava had come into the game just seven minutes earlier for Whalen, giving Boyd a quick payoff on his first substitution of the season. 

Sabo quickly put the Bears ahead by two goals with a cracking shot from just outside the box into the top of the net in the 30th minute. 

Pacific had their best scoring chance early in the second half when Cal goalkeeper Mallory Moser punched a Tiger cross along her own goal line. But a Cal defender cleared the ball off the line to preserve the shutout. 

Moser, a freshman from Branson High in Marin County, looked tentative at times in her first college match, deferring to her defenders several times instead to taking charge. But Moser is very athletic and looked comfortable in the net, making two saves in the game. 

“Mallory was solid, and she didn’t make any mistakes, which is what we need from her,” Boyd said. 

The Bears third goal came from a corner kick, as Yokers put the ball just over Pickering’s reach in the goalmouth. The ball bounced off of two Tigers before Cal’s Lucy Brining knocked it into the net for her second goal as a Bear. 

Overall, it was a fairly easy win for the Bears, who broke in three new starters on defense as well as Moser in the net. 

“We were more organized than I thought we would be,” Boyd said. “Our defense was obviously a concern with the new players, but it was quite good today.” 

The Bears play Michigan at 4:30 on Sunday to close out the tournament. The Wolverines fell to Loyola Marymount, 3-2, in the tournament’s opening game. Loyola Marymount and Pacific will play at 2 p.m. Sunday.