To say that there’s some history here is a bit of a understatement: the two programs have combined for 23 of the 40 NCAA national championships, with Cal winning its 13th two years ago. Stanford finished as runner-up last season, but hasn’t earned a ring since current national team captain Tony Azevedo led it to back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.

The winner of this match—the regular season closer for both teams—will clinch the No. 2 seed for the upcoming MPSF Championships, as well as strengthening an at large bid for the NCAAs. Both are tied for second in the MPSF with identical 6-1 conference records (both fell to top-ranked USC). Both have also defeated the other in non-conference games this season: the Card edged the Bears, 8-7, at home in September’s NorCal Invite; Cal returned the favor by claiming a 10-8 victory in last month’s SoCal Invite.

But Stanford still has something that Cal doesn’t: All-American goalkeeper Jimmie Sandman, likely the best in the nation (at keeping the goal, not just having an awesome name).

To celebrate the occasion, I’ve taken the liberty of altering the words to the Metallica classic:

In the pool, full of glee
Don’t forget, my team
To make your fans beam

You’ll score some goals, easily
Thinking you’re home free
‘Til the Sandman, you see

Conference MVP
First team All-American

Take your shot
Pray you’re hot
Don’t be tense
He’s the last line of defense

Something’s wrong, can’t find net
The goalie won’t let
And our shots just aren’t wet

Red cap on, 6-foot-5
‘Stache like Magnum P.I.
And his skills are no lie

Conference MVP
First team All-American

Take your shot
Pray you’re hot
Don’t be tense
He’s the last line of defense

Now I hold in hand, our fate
Pray the Lord, the ball flies straight
If the goal, I cannot make
In our defense, our hopes stake

Hush along the bench, don’t say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It’s just the beast guarding the goal
Inside the cage, behind the hole

Take your shot
Pray you’re hot
Use some sense

Take your shot
Pray you’re hot
Don’t be tense
He’s the last line of defense

(Song re-writing aside, I’m taking the Bears to win their first Big Splash in five years by a single goal, handing Stanford its first loss on the Farm this season. Should be a good game; I’d watch it even if I weren’t obligated to by reporting duties.)

And now its official.

In the telecast announcement last Monday afternoon on ESPNews, Cal (9-8-1, 3-6-1 in the Pac-10) was excluded from the NCAA bracket. The Bears had held out some hope of making the tournament after upsetting then-No. 17 Stanford, 1-0, to end the disappointing season on a high note.

Just a matter of months ago, it would have seemed preposterous to say that Cal would miss the postseason. The Bears had a preseason All-American forward in Andrew Wiedeman, a No. 4 national ranking and were the preseason pick to win the Pac-10.

So what happened?

First of all, one cannot discount the effect of injuries. The once-stalwart defensive line for the Bears suffered numerous losses to injuries, including sophomore Teddy Jones, seniors Imaan Kerchgeni and Jacob Wilson, junior Servando Carrasco and even starting goalkeeper David Bingham at times during the season. Only junior A.J. Soares played every game in the backfield for Cal.

Furthermore, the offense came in fits and spurts. Despite the near-constant production of Wiedeman (26 points) and the surprise offensive production of senior Jeff Cosgriff (16 points), the Bears seemed unable to find a rhythm during the season — blowing out teams like USF, 3-0, but unable to score on league competition like UCLA and San Diego State.

Coach Kevin Grimes has his own opinion on the season.

“When you look at it, there are 10 weeks of soccer. Ten weekends of soccer, and seven of them were pretty darn good. We had three off weekends that really were the difference. I think our injuries were just at our worst during that nine-day stretch we played UCLA and San Diego State: four games in nine days, we go 0-4. I think if our injuries aren’t there, we are probably not having this conversation right now.

“It was what it was.”

That it was, Coach.

However you look at it, this season was a disappointment for the Bears, who, at this point last year, thought they could contend for a national championship. But the future is bright for a team returning 13 players who saw considerable time this year.

Thirteen players who you can bet never want to miss an NCAA tournament again.

This week’s image, taken by Daily Cal staff photographer Nathan Yan, features punter Bryan Anger following through on a kick in the Cal football team’s game against Arizona on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Field position was an important facet of the game, and it wasn’t a strong point for coach Jeff Tedford’s team in the first half (notice that Anger is punting out of the Bears’ own end zone).

In any case, Cal emerged with a 24-16 victory featuring an impressive fourth-quarter performance by its defense.

Shane Vereen was excellent in his role as starting tailback, and kicker Giorgio Tavecchio might have saved the game for the Bears with an important tackle.

Cal (7-3, 4-3 in the Pac-10) takes on Stanford in the Big Game on the Farm this weekend. Check out Extra Points, the football-only blog, and the Daily Cal website for more coverage.

Also, look at a slideshow of photos from the week in Bears athletics at This Week in Cal Sports.

And make sure to check back next week for another awesome sports photo!

However, Cal fell short of qualifying after each team finished eighth on a chilly and muddy Springfield Golf Course.

Portland, Washington, Oregon, Arizona State and Stanford earned trips to nationals from the West Region on the men’s side. The latter four squads, along with Arizona, made it on the women’s side.

The Cal women could have helped their chances on Saturday by topping the Wildcats, which they had already done at the Pac-10 Championships, but the Bears finished three spots behind Arizona while racing without redshirt freshman Ellie Keene. Keene was the team’s second place finisher at Pac-10s, but suffered a foot injury at the conference meet.

“Arizona was on their game today and … we weren’t,” senior Alison Greggor said. “If we had finished fifth or sixth, (a berth) was very likely. It didn’t go exactly as planned.”

“It was a tough meet for us,” coach Tony Sandoval said after the meet. “We had a couple of tough breaks.”

Indeed, Cal’s top two runners — sophomore Deborah Maier and Steve Sodaro — both missed out on individual berths to the NCAA championships by just one spot, despite having career-best regional finishes and earning all-region team honors.

Sodaro placed 16th, one behind Cal Poly’s Joe Gatel, while Maier (14th) finished behind UCLA’s Shannon Murakami.

The first major sport I covered for the Daily Cal was volleyball. I went on calbears.com to do some research before my first interview with coach Rich Feller. Up in the top right corner of the volleyball page, there’s this picture of him, yelling, pointing and looking rather intense. It scared the shit out of me.

I went into the interview thinking I was about to get a chair thrown at me. Turns out, the guy was pretty damn nice. Now, a year later and covering Cal volleyball for the second season in a row, I can definitively say that people don’t come as nice and personable as Rich Feller. It’s been my pleasure to work with him. The man is a true class act.

So now I’m returning the favor.

When I sat down with Coach yesterday to interview him about the Bears’ homestand this weekend, he came ready to air a few grievances. One of them — which he’s brought up before — is his frustration at the inability to draw students to volleyball matches. The team has passed out fliers in person at Crossroads. They’ve done promotional deals. And still, like Coach Feller pointed out, if you take away Rally Comm and the Cal Band, there are maybe a handful of students.

We don’t usually do promos for teams. We’re not supposed to, and it makes sense. But I figure I can do this one favor for Coach. There are two home games left, one on Friday at 7 p.m., and one on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. It’s free for students, and volleyball is incredibly fun to watch, if you’ve never gone.

Afterward, you can get autographs from the team and meet Coach Feller. And if you do, tell him you’re a student who heard his call for fans. You won’t find a more appreciative man in all of Berkeley.

The Haas student hits everything from punctured eardrums to South African food to his fear of sharks:

You missed the first five games this season with a broken hand. What’s the worst injury you’ve suffered in water polo?

I guess, bursting my eardrum. Back home, I got in a little bit of confrontation with this one guy. I got hit and it burst my eardrum, it concussed me. I don’t remember much of what happened. I was completely dazed. I got kicked out and I just picked up the ball and threw it into the crowd. I had no idea what was going on. And obviously, I had a five-meter called on me because I was interfering with play. That was pretty painful.

How did that happen?

We were playing and the ball came in set. His object was never to go for the ball. My whole team was ganging up on this one kid. I was behind him, and he came around and just headbutted me. It cracked my headgear and burst my eardrum, and yeah, I got a bit dazed after that … Bleeding out your ear, you’re always like “Oh my God, what the hell is going on.”

You mentioned playing video games against your brother growing up. What was the first platform you had?

The first platform we ever had was the Sega 16-bit. And then for my brother and I’s … it must have been like, Christmas around ’96, we transferred to PlayStation 1 and that was like the biggest thing ever. Played PlayStation 1, and then obviously we upgraded to PlayStation 2. We’ve definitely been the system of PlayStation. We won’t go to Xbox. I refuse to go to Xbox.

What’s South Africa like?

Obviously, you hear a lot of the bad stuff. Crime rate’s high. AIDS rate is extremely high. Robberies are extremely high, anything, carjacking. So you obviously have to be extremely safe in everything you do and that’s why it wasn’t such a good environment for my younger sister and my mom to be in. (Ed. note: His American mother moved to New Jersey with his sister after his parents’ divorce.) So we understood that, and my sister’s grown up to be a beautiful young girl. She’s lived a better life. She can ride a bicycle out on the street without my mom having to watch her.

The flip side of that, it really is—I’ve travelled extensively throughout America, throughout Europe, some parts of Africa, South America—by far the most beautiful country in the world. There’s a lot of promise, and hopefully the 2010 Soccer World Cup can expose that promise.

What’s the food like?

A lot of traditional food, there’s a lot of meat involved. We have this different kind of mashed potato, yours is a lot softer, ours is a lot harder. Obviously, different ingredients that make it harder. We eat a lot of sort of, kudu meat, like you know, like a springbok. We eat a lot of that type of meat. There’s actually quite a lot of Italian. Sushi’s growing there, but there’s not so much Asian food. We don’t have as many fast food restaurants. The only one we have is McDonald’s, we don’t have Wendy’s, Burger King, Arby’s, anything like that.

Do you miss it?

Yeah, big time. The candy, definitely. Candy’s unbelievable back home. So when I came here I had to put away a lot of the candy that I ate. I pretty much don’t eat sweet food now. The thing I miss back home is biltong — what you guys call beef jerky, but it’s a lot better, I promise you. I’ll bring you back some.

Can you cook any of it?

I’m a horrible cook. I’ve stayed on the meal plan for all four years. I cannot cook anything. My philosophy when I was younger was the less I knew how to cook, the less my mom could ask me to do, so my brother always got stuck with those obligations. I don’t know how to cook anything. Spaghetti, eggs, that’s it.

You’ve traveled to a lot of different places. Which is your favorite?

Croatia, by far. Oh my word, the women there are unbe-liev-able. Goodness. And also, the night life there was a lot of fun. Obviously, the water polo, you’re playing against some of the best players in the world. Learned a great deal from going on those trips. Croatia, beautiful sights. All the Balkan states are, even Hungary, are beautiful. I haven’t visited Serbia yet, unfortunately, but I’d definitely take Croatia.

I heard you like to surf.

Body surf. Surfing, I tried it once back home. To tell you the truth, I have a humongous fear of sharks. I cannot, oh my gosh. Sometimes when I go out and body surf, I always make sure there’s someone slower and older than me out there so I can maybe give them a little hook to the face and then swim past them.

Where the waves are the best is called Jeffreys Bay, and there’s too many sharks there. There’s way too many great whites there and I just won’t go near it. I haven’t even had a desire to go to Jeffreys Bay, not even a desire. I stay close to where it’s safer, where there’s a lot more shark nets.

I’ve been, not shark diving, but in a cage out on the ocean back home in Cape Town. That was an unbelievable experience, being that close to such a predator. Oh my goodness. I didn’t stay in as long as I wanted to, or not that I wanted to, as long as I paid for, I was like, “I’ve gotta get outta here.” Obviously, seeing Jaws scared the shit out of me. Some of these things were like three meters, three-and-a-half, four meters. Huge.

Sanders-Frison picked up his third and fourth fouls within a minute of each other and was subbed out for Jorge Gutierrez. Cal leads, 50-42. Two points for Detroit on the first possession after the sub.

A nice move inside by Patrick Christopher for a fadeaway floater, then a three-pointer. Followed by a defensive rebound and an assist to Theo Robertson for a three — Cal 58-44. And another three for Robertson leads to a timeout with 12:22 remaining.

But how will Cal respond after playing so streaky all game? This team can be so explosive and then let leads trickle away in minutes …

Just noticed that Robertson has 17 — where did that come from?

At this point–8:09 left in the game–all of Cal’s 30 points in the second half have been scored by Robertson, Randle and Christopher. Max Zhang broke the streak with a lay-in after a miss by Omondi Amoke, earning a huge ovation. Cal leads, 72-53.

Brandon Smith in for Jerome Randle, Jorge Gutierrez for Christopher with 6:52. The Bears are in closeout mode.

Cal moving the ball flawlessly, setting up two open looks: a three for Robertson and a long two for Knezevic. Cal is ahead, 81-56. This is probably not a group that we’ll see on the floor down the stretch in conference play, but getting some of the new guys minutes could prove important later, even if it is garbage time.

Zhang with another open tip-in. The fans seem ready to retire his jersey. Every time he touches the ball, you can hear people rustle in their seats the way it used to be for a DeSean Jackson punt return at Memorial Stadium. I feel like I’m being left out of the loop on this one. Cal off and running, 85-59.

Bak Bak is not redshirting after all, barring incident.

Christopher and Randle are up and off the bench on every play, waving their towels and yelling. They’re showing Leadership, with a capital L. Meanwhile, Knezevic is all over the floor.

Another tip-in for Zhang. Build a statue for him already!

FINAL: Cal 95, Detroit 61

Kind of a nondescript and ugly first half. Both teams have more turnovers than they do assists – six turnovers for the Bears, eight for the Titans.

Markhuri Sanders-Frison got a few touches early on and already has four points. Getting it low really gives Cal a different look offensively. The junior has six points, four rebounds and an assist at the half.

Jerome Randle has 16 points on 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-for-3 behind the arc. The point guard has two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers. Randle has been getting trailed up and down the court with or without the ball. He seems to be settling into the pressure as the game wears on.

Patrick Christopher is 2-of-8 from the floor and 0-for-3 from deep. He has an assist, a steal and a turnover.

Max Zhang got his obligatory minutes to an over-the-top ovation from the crowd. Zhang has one point, which was also cheered for heavily. When he missed the second free throw, the crowd “oh”-ed like Cal lost at the buzzer.

Cal is shooting 25 percent from three at the half.

More updates to follow.

“It’s difficult to go two to two-and-a-half months without a real competitive match,” junior Zach Gilbert said.

Coach Peter Wright said that the offseason is an opportunity for players to rest and get healthy for spring season. They will also, of course, hit the books so they can win the Newmark Award — presented to the sports team with the highest GPA — for the second consecutive semester.

But the Bears are going to play plenty of tennis, too.

Some of the players plan on participating in local, non-ITA affiliated tournaments. In addition, even though Cal does not have any official practices with Wright until January, the team will, as always, practice on its own. Only this year won’t be as lackadaisical as previous years.

“Last couple of years (our practice) was not quite serious enough … we played lots of mini tennis,” Gilbert said. “Don’t slack off before spring. This year, it’s our goal to make it more like real practice.”

With the determined, no-nonsense Pedro Zerbini running practice, Cal should be ready for the dual season.

“Were going to keep working hard, practice two to two-and-a-half hours a day, three or four times a week,” Zerbini said. “We’ll play a lot of matches, a lot of hitting. We’ll stay in shape, keep healthy. Hopefully, when (the dual season starts), we’ll be playing our best tennis.”

Cal isn’t closing out strong on the perimeter, and the Racers are making them pay for it with three-balls. Fortunately for the Bears, Murray State is having trouble stopping them on offense.

Cal’s ball movement is noticeably more fluid with Smith on the floor, looking for his teammates before his own shot.

However, the Racers have reduced the gap due to Bears’ mistakes on defense: missed box-outs, weak transition defense and poor closeouts. The lead doesn’t seem to be in any real danger though with the 7:13 left to play, as the Bears are up 64-50.

Nevermind … Randle with a turnover in the key for a Racer lay-in; the lead is cut to 12. The senior follows it up with an uncharacteristic miss on a floater in the lane.

Sanders-Frison is out-hustling everyone on the floor. He just demanded the ball in the post and man-handled his defender for an easy left-handed lay-in. Cal 66-52, 5:08 to play. Sanders-Frison just picked up fourth foul trying to take a charge, so he was taken out.

Cal is having a lot of trouble getting back on defense in the second half. The Bears seem to be trailing the Racers back the other way more often than not. Another fast break score for Murray State cuts the Bears’ lead to nine, 66-57.

And another fast break, 66-59. Crowd starting to realize maybe the Bears are slipping a little, or a lot. Just over three minutes to go. Half the lead gone in less than two minutes, not looking good for Cal.

Boykin’s first free throw is good, misses the second, but gets bailed out on a lane violation and makes his third attempt.

Cal gets lost on a pick and roll for an open lay-in, so its lead is up to seven.

Randle’s two free throws are good. Murray State comes down and hits a three, cutting the Bears’ lead to six with under two minutes left.

Boykin bailed out with a foul on the drive to the basket. Misses both free throws. Theo Robertson saves it on a huge hustle play. The Bears are showing patience and do not immediately jack up a three. Instead, they pass it around for a little until Boykin gets caught after he picked up his dribble. Timeout Cal.

Randle makes a difficult lay-up, lead to eight. Racers miss an ambitious three. Cal burns the clock for nearly the whole shot clock, Randle passes to Gutierrez under the hoop and is fouled. Gutierrez makes one of two. This game should be over.

And I’m wrong again … It took Murray State literally four seconds to hit a three, lead down to six.

Sanders-Frison is fouled with 19.1 seconds left. Ice water in his veins, he makes both.

Racers miss two threes, but make a third with 1.2 seconds left. Cal is up by five.