BERKELEY – Gaku Nishimura scored his first goal as a Golden Bear to help lead the California men’s soccer team to a 1-1 tie with Virginia on Saturday at Edwards Stadium and earn the Bears their first point in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Cal improved its record to 3-4-1 (0-2-1 ACC). The Cavaliers have a 2-2-3 record (0-1-2).
The teams battled to a 0-0 score at halftime, but both produced good scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes. At 24:17, a Virginia free kick led to a close-range shot by forward Hayes Wood, with Cal junior goalkeeper Marco Brougher making the save. Cal’s Arik Duncan had a chance to give Cal a first-half lead at 32:07. With a defender draped on the senior forward at the top of the six-yard box, Duncan quickly turned and fired on goal, but Virginia goalkeeper Joey Batrouni saved the shot.
Cal’s goal came in the 56th minute, as Nishimura first took a long-range shot that was blocked by a Cavalier and then collected the rebound. The junior midfielder made no mistake with his second shot, a 22-yard blast to the upper left corner of the net that Batrouni had no chance to save. Cal led 1-0.
Nishimura, in his first year at Cal after transferring from San Jose State, is no stranger to finding the back of the net. The product of Yokohama, Japan, ranked second in goals (3) and points (12) for the Spartans in 2023.
“He’s been who we’d hoped he would be,” Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. “He’s a very talented midfielder who had a great career at San Jose State. He was an all-conference player, and we wanted him to come and be someone to settle the game for us,…
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