BERKELEY, Calif. -- The No. 17 Portland Pilots earned their first road win of the season with a 2-0 shutout against the California Golden Bears. Portland improved to 7-3-0 overall with the win.
How it Happened
Portland started the scoring when Jacob Babalai recorded his ninth goal of the season in the 14th minute, assisted by Buba Fofanah. With nine goals on the year, Babalai set a new career high for goals in a season.
The Pilots added another score on a goal from Fofanah -- his seventh goal of the season -- in the 18th minute, assisted by Sebastian Nava. The Pilots held off the Bears the rest of the way to earn the shutout win.
Game Notes
- This is the fifth shutout win of the year for Portland and the fifth time they've beaten a team by multiple goals in a shutout.
- Portland's 28 goals on the year are the most they've had through 10 games since 1999.
- Babalai's goal was his ninth of the season. It's the most a Pilot has had through 10 games since Benji Michel in 2018.
- Babalai and Fofanah have both hit career highs for goals in a season.
- Babalai's 22 points through 10 games are the most for a Pilot in the 2000s at least.
Portland Head Coach Nick Carlin-Voigt on the win
"Great performance today to get an important Pac-12 road win. We came out very strong and aggressive, similar to Friday night, but the difference today was that we finished our chances. We love posting clean sheets and many guys contributed important energy and effort tonight. Goals change games and we saw a motivated and hungry program today against a strong and tall Cal team. (Cal head coach) Leonard (Griffin) is a great friend and coach and we wish his team well moving forward. We wish Cal the best the rest of the season. It was always going to be a tall task in the second half playing a team on short rest. We managed the second half and they had a few chances to score, but so did we. We now turn our energy to Oregon State Saturday night at Merlo Field."
Up Next
The Pilots return home for their final nonconference match against the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday, Oct. 14. The match is part of a doubleheader with the women's team, with kickoff set for the men's match at 7 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options.
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