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STANFORD – Cal finally won a postseason game in women’s soccer, and Laura Schott finally got her record. 

The Golden Bears had not won an NCAA tournament game since 1988, but they got over the hump Friday night at Stanford’s Maloney Field, where they shutout Sun Belt champion Denver, 2-0, to win the first-round match and snap the Pioneers’ 15-game winning streak. Cal (12-7-1) takes on the winner of the top-ranked Stanford, which beat Cal Poly 4-0, in the second round on Sunday at 1 p.m., also at Stanford. 

Kim Yokers led the Bears with a goal and an assist. The junior midfielder’s assist may have been the more memorable statistic, as it set up an insurance goal by Schott. With the goal, the All-America senior forward broke the Cal career goalscoring record she had held with Joy Fawcett at 55. 

“The second half, I thought we overwhelmed them,” Boyd said. “For the first 25 or 30 minutes, we were just all over them. When we got the second goal, that pretty much clinched it.” 

Boyd also praised Yokers, who noticeably improved her game this year after a summer with the U.S. under-21 national team. 

“She has been more mobile, more active than any of the center mids that we’ve played against,” Boyd said. “That second goal that we got was 25 minutes of work by the team and an incredible run by Kim to get down the line and deliver the ball that she delivered. That’s the mark of a special player.” 

Denver’s night may have truly ended in the eighth minute, when midfielder Katie Antongiovanni left the match for good with a broken nose. The senior midfielder led the Pioneers (17-2-2) in goals (14) and points (32) entering the match. 

“Anytime you lose your leading goalscorer and a playmaker in midfield, that would hurt anyone,” Denver coach Jeff Hooker said. 

Yokers got Cal on the scoreboard in the 10th minute. Freshman forward Dania Cabello crossed from near the endline to senior midfielder Brittany Kirk, who found Yokers at the top left side of the penalty area. Yokers fired back across the goalmouth and past Pioneers goalkeeper Erica Izard to the far post. 

“I was afraid it was going to go just wide, and the keeper wasn’t moving, so that made me feel it was going wide even more,” Yokers said. “It snuck in there.” 

Kirk moved into a second-place tie with former teammate Natalie Stuhlmueller on the Cal all-time assist list with her 20th career assist.  

In the 62nd minute, Schott got the goal for which she had been waiting so long. Yokers crossed from the right flank to Schott, who headed the ball inside the near post and past a diving Izard. 

“I couldn’t have had a better game to break the scoring record in,” said a beaming Schott. “I’ve been wanting to get a playoff win since I got here. We finally got one tonight. It feels pretty good.”