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Cal senior midfielder Brittany Kirk scored with 14 seconds left in regulation to beat Arizona State, 2-1, on Sunday, keeping the Golden Bears’ postseason hopes alive. 

Kirk’s goal put 15th-ranked Bears in a tie with the No. 23 Sun Devils for sixth place in the Pac-10 Conference at 4-5. Had Arizona State won to knock Cal into seventh place, Kirk’s team might have missed the postseason tournament despite its national ranking. 

“The wins this weekend (Cal beat Arizona on Friday) keep us where we want to be,” Cal head coach Kevin Boyd said of his team’s tournament status. “We gave ourselves a little cushion to make sure we get in.” 

Freshman Tracy Hamm gave Cal a lead with a goal in the 24th minute, and the Bears managed to hold off a furious Arizona State charge for much of the second half. But when ASU put a free kick into the goalmouth in the 84th minute, Stephanie Peel knocked the ball into the Cal goal to tie the game. 

It looked as if the teams were headed for overtime when the Sun Devils had a throw-in deep in their territory with less than a minute left in regulation. But the ball came free to Cal’s Carly Fuller near the top of the box, and she slid the ball sideways to Kirk, who fired a shot from 22 yards out into the upper-right corner of the ASU goal for the game-winner. 

“I was just hoping for another chance before the whistle blew,” Kirk said. “I don’t know if I could have handled overtime.” 

Boyd was thinking the same thing, as moments before the goal he sent Kassie Doubrava to the scorer’s table to replace Kirk. But before Doubrava could get into the game, Fuller found Kirk and Kirk found the net. 

“Boy, I’m glad the ball didn’t go out of bounds,” Boyd said with a grin. “Brit looked like she was done, but I guess she had something left.” 

Cal 1, Fresno State 0 

• Calen Carr headed in the game-winning goal in the 75th minute for the Cal men’s soccer team Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium against Fresno State for a final score of 1-0. The Golden Bears improved to 13-3-2 (6-1-1 Pac-10) as the Bulldogs fell to 5-10-4 (2-6-1 Pac-10).  

Carr connected with a cross brought in by Nick Hatzke off of a corner kick to record his second goal of the year.  

The first half was uneventful, as Cal got off six shots to Fresno’s two.  

“It took us 45 minutes to get going,” noted Grimes. “We played well in the second half, creating a lot of scoring opportunities.”  

The Bulldogs best scoring opportunity came in the 59th minute when Kupono Low fired a shot right below the crossbar but was intersected by the outstretched Saunders.  

Cal, currently in second place in the Pac-10 conference, wraps up the Pac-10 season this upcoming weekend, traveling to Washington Friday and then facing Oregon State Sunday.  

Daily Planet Wire Service contributed to this story.