This would have to qualify as the biggest upset of the season thus far, as Cal State Bakersfield defeated visiting San Diego today (2-1). USD was listed as high as 13th in the preseason national rankings (by the NSCAA coaches poll) and returned eight starters from the 2008 USD squad that went 15-3-3, finished second in the West Coast Conference (6-1-0) and reached the second round of the NCAA (0-1 loss to UCLA). Bakersfield, on the other hand, lost more starters (6) than it returned (5) from a 2008 team that managed only a 5-13-1 record.
San Diego held the edge in shots (20-10) and shots on goal (9-4), with each team attempting only one corner kick – but the Roadrunners emerged with the one-goal margin. All three of the game's goals came in a span of 1:57, with USD claiming a brief lead when freshman midfielder Sierra Ferreira (La Jolla, Calif.) scored in the 69th minute. Ferreira received a feed from sophomore defender Natalie Garcia and chipped a 15-yard shot over the head of sophomore goalkeeper Kym Gause (Manteca, Calif.) for the game's first goal. Gause ultimately finished the game having stopped eight of the nine shots she faced.
A mere 20 seconds after the USD goal, Bakersfield freshman defender Raquel Gervas (Upland, Calif.) sent her penalty-kick try by sophomore 'keeper Courtney Parsons. Then, 37 seconds after the PK score, sophomore forward Kassi Massey (a Bakersfield native)
scored on a header to provide the eventual winning margin. Massey scored four goals as a freshman, accounting for 25% of the Roadrunners' entire goalscoring output (16) in the 2008 season.
Bakersfield native Kassi Massey (left) had the go-ahead/game-winning goal in Cal State Bakersfield's 2-1 upset victory over San Diego.