Cal Rugby: No. 2 Navy Hands Golden Bears Their First Loss

Cal’s fourth-ranked rugby squad suffered its first loss of the season, losing to second-ranked Navy 27-3 Saturday afternoon in Annapolis, Maryland.

Cal slipped to 7-1 in its spring season, unable to handle the long trip East and a strong second-half performance by Navy (11-1).

Navy played in the national championship game each of the past two years, winning the title in 2023, and the Midshipmen demonstrated they will be a contender again this season.

This was the first of Cal’s four consecutive challenging matches to finish the regular season, with matches against BYU, Army and Saint Mary’s yet to come.

Two pivotal plays in the second half turned the tide Navy’s way on Saturday.

Playing with the wind in the first half, Cal took an early 3-0 lead on Kealan O’Connell’s penalty kick in the ninth minute. But that turned out to be the only Golden Bears score of the game.

Both teams had opportunities to score tries later in the first half, getting inside the opponent’s 5-meter line, but the first half ended with the Bears still holding a 3-0 lead after O’Connell missed a long penalty kick attempt on the final play before halftime.

Navy, playing with the wind in the second half, dominated play after halftime. Navy’s Roanin Krieger tied the match 3-3 with a penalty kick nine minutes into the second half before two key plays turned the match in Navy’s favor.

First, Navy’s Max Smith scampered about 30 meters, faking out would-be Cal tacklers along the way, for a try that put Navy ahead 10-3 after the conversion in the 56th minute.

Then, in the 68th minute, Cal fumbled the ball away, and Navy’s Aidan Gerber picked it up and ran in for a try to make it 17-3.

The virtually clinched the win for Navy in this physical, hard-hitting game, but Krieger added a penalty kick to make it 20-3 in the 74th minute, and Smith added his second try of the game on the final play of the match to set the final score