PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Nonso Adimabua scored a first-half goal and Marco Brougher made eight clutch saves to power the California men’s soccer team to a 1-0 upset of top-ranked Pittsburgh and to the Golden Bears’ first ACC victory on Friday night at Ambrose Urbanic Field.
Cal’s record improved to 4-5-2 (1-3-2 ACC). Pitt – which suffered its first ACC loss and first home loss of the season – is 10-2-0 (4-1-0).
“I felt the energy from the group, and they were excited,” Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. “I knew this would be a challenge to try to beat such a strong team, which has been playing wonderful soccer all year long. Did I forecast this? No. But did I feel we were capable? One hundred percent. They’ve shown grit and passion in every game, and we have a belief in the group that we could play with anyone. We didn’t shy away from it. Thankfully we could grind out the result tonight.”
Adimabua, a fifth-year senior forward, pounced on a defensive miscue in the Panthers’ box to score in the 21st minute.
Brougher, a junior goalkeeper, made a crucial 80th-minute save of a Panthers’ penalty kick taken by their leading scorer, Luis Sahmkow, to preserve the shutout win.
The night included Wyatt Meyer’s 2024 debut. The senior co-captain and 2023 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year – who missed action this season due to injury – entered the game in the first half and played 28 minutes.
“It was a tremendous boost to the morale of the group to see Wyatt playing again,” Griffin said. “He’s been such an important piece of the team. This program means so much to him, and that feeds into the energy…
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