Unfortunately, we just had to declare T.O.D. for the Cal men’s soccer team last night at 7:13 p.m. It will surely be missed.

But actually, when Oregon State’s Colin Mitchell scored in the 13th minute against the Bears it was about over for the once-No. 4 nationally ranked team. With five conference losses, a record one game over .500 and no ranking whatsoever, its hard to see a selection committee plucking Cal out of its futbol sorrows and into the College Cup later this month.

I wholeheartedly believed the 2009 Bears could contend with the best in the nation, and they did.

Just not enough.

They opened the season with a 2-1 loss in overtime to then-No. 1 Maryland, obliterated a ranked USF squad and pulled out a classy 1-0 victory over Stanford. But for some reason Cal seemed incapable of showing up for the meat of its Pac-10 schedule. Games against teams they were perfectly capable of outclassing, out-talenting and out-everythinging (just go with it) and didn’t.

The most mind-boggling part of this season comes with four games against two Pac-10 bottom feeders. The Bears dropped two games to Washington and another two games to San Diego State.

What?!

If you drop four games like that — two at home, mind you — it pretty much sets you up for a few pressure-packed games against perennial superpowers like, say, UCLA who managed to, once again, beat Cal twice.

However, that’s just the way sports go sometimes, I guess. You hear it all the time from the T.V. talking heads: athletic endeavors are unpredictable and capricious. Even the scrawniest of the Davids can raise up and proverbially concuss a Goliath — that’s why we watch right?

Well, I would argue that’s wrong especially if your team has all the trappings of a title contender. There is nothing wrong with a good team doing good and a bad team doing bad. The Bears deserved a better season and for some reason it didn’t come to fruition.

With that said, the Bears have one last chance to sucker-punch a rival from the grave. On Nov. 14th at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, against Stanford, Cal’s swan song can be a booming solo performance with Pac-10 ramifications  or it can slip into the historical records without a peep.

I promise that the afterlife (sorry, I mean the off-season) will be much much sweeter with the former.

The 2009 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England, will feature three members of the Cal men’s swimming team. Junior Nathan Adrian, senior Sean Mahoney and coach David Durden will represent Team USA in the bi-annual competition on Dec. 18-19.

The format is much different compared with more traditional international competitions. This year, the Americans will have to hold off a team of top swimmers from Great Britain, Germany and Italy. The three past Duels matched an Australian squad against the U.S. team, which is undefeated in the event.

Unlike many other swimming competitions, this one is more geared toward a television audience and intended to more prominently highlight the best of the best in the swimming world. There is also a nice monetary component – a world-record breaking swim will amount to a $15,000 prize, while gold medal winners will rake in $1,000.

Team USA drew its team from top performers at the 2009 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships, U.S. Open, FINA World Championships and World University Games.

Adrian is second in American record books in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races. Both historic swims occurred at the World Championships, though the 48.00-second 100-meter freestyle took place in the event’s trials. He captured both of those events at the ConocoPhillips National Championships, and anchored the American team to a gold medal in the 400-meter relay at the 2009 FINA World Championships.

Mahoney also lays claim to a second-fastest American time in his signature event, the 200-meter breaststroke. He clocked in at 2:09.70 seconds at the World University Games.

In just three years at Cal, Durden has coached 16 All-Americans and has led the Bears to consecutive fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.

I ran into Sanoe at the Cal-WSU game and talked to her for a few minutes. Actually, she said that she was ready to tackle me because I had been celebrating the Cougars beating the spread. After settling her down (only kidding, Sanoe is as calm as they come), we talked a little softball and the shake-up that has been occurring due to the addition of some solid freshman.

Kekahuna, who played the majority of the games behind the plate, may be moving back to first where she spent the majority of her freshman year, as freshman Lindsey Ziegenhirt may move to catcher.

According to Calbears.com, Ziegenhirt is “ a highly decorated athlete. She earned All-America honors from ESPN/Under Armor, EA Sports and the NFCA in 2008. Ziegenhirt also collected first-team all-league, district and state honors in 2008 and was selected as the 2007 Delta River League Player of the Year. Last season, Ziegenhirt produced a .446 batting average, with 47 RBI, 14 doubles and six home runs. Sheldon was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country in 2007 and reached No. 1 in the national rankings last season, before ending the season ranked fourth. Ziegenhirt was also on the same Lady Magic ASA team as (Jolene)Henderson that captured the national title.”

And it gets better for the Bears, who finally will be adding a third pitcher to the mix — taking the load off of Marissa Drewrey and Valerie Arioto — with the coming of Jolene Henderson.

Henderson’s numbers are ridiculous, posting a 0.41 era during her 2008 high school campaign. Not only that, she can hit too, batting .400 at the dish. At Sheldon High, Henderson was just about all-everything for her work on the mound.

But don’t expect Sanoe to be sitting out if the switch does indeed take place, as the junior’s bat is a high point in the Cal order.

Either way, to add this kind of talent to a team that was two games away from making the world series sounds like crazy talk. Unfortunately for other teams, they’re coming to a ballpark near you in spring.

The guy is a catch. For an athlete to do this is above and beyond any and all expectations. My dad once told me of a famous Milwaukee Brewer (hint: he’s in the Hall of Fame now), who spit on my father’s  shoes when he tried to ask him a few questions for a feature.

Needless to say, Christopher is a gem. So as a sort of thank you to P. Chris here is how he responded via email to my questions. Most of these never made it to print. So here goes (consider all answers sic’d):

How would you define your style?

I would define it as versatile, classic, timeless, confident, daring. It’s probably more Euro because I prefer my clothes to fit slim. Versatile: because I’m not set on one style of clothing. I love a well tailored suit, but a vintage T, some levi’s and a pair of purcell’s or Air Force One’s can also get the job done. Classic: because Class never goes out of style. You can’t go wrong. Timeless: I would say because with certain things I put together comes from different era’s, and that ties into classic clothing. Confident: simply because I think I can pull anything off.

A guy may look at me like what the heck am I wearing and I’ll get a compliment from a girl. At the end of the day, I dress for myself, but people always have something to say no matter what you do in life. So with that being said, a compliment from a girl can max out 100 guys looking at me crazy. And I say daring because I’m not afraid to dress. Most males in America are afraid to dress because the perception that they may think other people have about them. And that’s something I would say does not effect me. When you allow people to influence you, you turn into them and not yourself.

Where do you get your ideas from? Mags, online, designers? Where do you shop?

 Dressing sometimes isn’t something that can be taught in my opinion. My father candress, so maybe its genetic. So its almost like either you have it or you don’t. But those that do may feed off of each other a bit. But you can get ideas from anywhere. Just people watching. I definitely read GQ, Esquire, Details, the Men’s journal and as far as online, I check out different websites: the Sartorialist, sneakernews, theshoegame just to name a few.

Shopping, I have my spots and I’m loyal to them. I love Ralph Lauren, American Apparel, J.Crew, Nike, and one secret spot that I won’t give up.

People make a big deal about your shoe collection, but what do you take more pride in — your kicks or your dress?

I take pride in appearance. So that would mean both. My first l love I think was sneakers and they will always mean a lot, but I’ve also matured and evolved as far as dressing. So I don’t wear sneakers as much as I use to. Doesn’t mean I won’t continue to get them though.

I remember after the Cal-Stanford softball game, you had on bright red sneakers. How do you pick your shoes in the morning?

Picking shoes in the morning can be a headache. My collection is decent in the eyes of a sneakerhead. I feel bad for two of my buddies in NY. “The Mayor” and Will Eberhart’s collections are crazy. I look up to those guys. I like to keep my kick game exclusive though. Knowing that when I step out, no one else will have my kicks and knowing that I may turn a few heads.

With UC Davis entering the NorPac, the conference now has four teams in the East and four in the West. And rather than seeding overall, the teams will be ranked within each division.

This year’s tournament shakeup means that even the top seeds will play in the first round, but for the first time in four years, that has no bearing on the Cal field hockey team.

For the first time since 2005, the Bears were denied the No. 1 seed in the conference. Friday’s 4-2 loss to Stanford allowed the Cardinal to clinch the division, and placed Cal securely in the No. 2 position.

The second-seeded Bears will face the No. 3-seed in the East—either Davidson or Appalachian State—in the first round of the tournament.

So there will be no bye—except for this week.

Cal (6-10, 4-2 in the NorPac) is the only team without a regular season game this weekend, giving it more than a week to prepare for the NorPac tournament.

This bye seems to come at just the right time for the Bears. Coach Shellie Onstead admitted that the first thing on the team’s agenda would be some much-needed recovery time.

“When someone like Sophie (Sproats) comes up to me and says that her legs are dead, I know that we need to focus on recovery,” Onstead said.

It probably doesn’t help that a few of the Bears players were fighting illness and sidelined during their most recent regular-season games.

But while this weekend will allow Cal to recuperate, Onstead is using it as opportunity to refocus mentally as well. Indeed, the Bears are treating the postseason as an entirely new season.

Onstead even gathered her team to set completely new goals because, as she put it, “This is it. You want to make it to the postseason? Well, here it is.”

Daily Cal photographer Skyler Reid captured Bears defensive lineman Cameron Jordan taking down Washington State quarterback Jeff Tuel.

Jordan finished the game with 2.5 sacks and six tackles as Cal defeated the Cougars, 49-17, on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The Bears improved to 2-2 in the Pac-10, although their last two games came against what could be the two worst teams in the conference in UCLA and WSU. Their next test takes place on Halloween against Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

For more coverage of the Cal football team, click here and here. To see more of Skyler Reid’s work, check this out. For more photos from the world of Bears athletics, head over to the This Week in Cal Sports slideshow.

This weekend, the Bears ran all over Arizona and Arizona State, hitting an average of .379 while holding their opponents to a .132 mark. Not too shabby, especially in conference play.

“I feel like the video (session before practice) was 40 minutes long instead of 20,” setter Carli Lloyd said. “We’re doing podcasting so we get videos at home.”

The podcasting Lloyd speaks of involves iTunes. Assistant coach Matt McShane loads videos onto iTunes, so that the players can watch their game tape whenever they’re in front of a computer. Pretty handy.

But the learning from video didn’t end with practice for the Bears this week. The team added extra meetings and study sessions to get even more out of their video sessions.

“We meet as a team now without the coaches and do video. And that’s even bigger for all of us,” Lloyd added. “I send out to the setters questions and they have to send me answers. We discuss it and try to have a game plan as a team rather than having the coaches do all the work.”

Apparently, it pays to do your homework.

Really, it’s a bittersweet ceremony, where the inevitable four-year cycle of collegiate athletic attrition comes to a close. Home careers end, but are also celebrated and remembered.

Such a day will transpire this Sunday when the No. 20 Cal men’s soccer team takes on San Diego State. Before the game the Bears will honor their five seniors: forward Jeff Cosgriff, goalkeeper Patrick Fry, defender Imman Kerchgani, defender Evan Sassano and defender Jacob Wilson.

But when something comes to an end, its only natural to look forward, especially in the cyclical world of athletics.

As they say, there is always next season.

So when looking forward what will the 2010 Bears look like?

Well, it will look quite a lot like the 2009 edition, but a growing youth movement will do its best to crack into the starting lineup.

With no offense intended toward the talented class of seniors this year, Cal will only lose three starters all of whom have proven back-ups waiting in the wings.

Kerchgani and Wilson are two integral wing defenders for the Bears. However, both have gone down with injuries at various points this year leaving room for freshman Kyle Lunt, Steve Birnbaum, and Chris Ortega to step in and prove their worth while gaining considerable experience in the backfield. 

On the other hand, its true that Cosgriff has bust onto the scene with an outpouring of offense including six goals and a hat-trick agaisnt Oregon State on Oct., 11.

However, the future-minded Grimes has been grooming a few successors including freshman John Fitzpatrick and Scot Van Buskirk. But the true scoring threat for the class of 2013 and the most likely to replace Cosgriff’s offensive production seems to be freshman Tony Salciccia, who is fifth on the team in scoring. 

What is most impressive about Salciccia’s scoring binge is the fact he has outscored seven Cal starters, while coming off the bench.

So Class of 2010, you will be missed, but its time to let the Class of 2013 enter the spotlight.

If you think water polo isn’t a contact sport, think again.

During the Cal men’s water polo team’s game against Santa Clara on Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex, sophomore Travis Bickham (with ball) got tangled up with Broncos utility Brett Zylstra.

Bickham seems to have water in his eyes, but he probably didn’t have a bad taste in his mouth after Sunday’s 13-9 victory for the Bears.

This week’s “Points and Shoot” image is brought to you by Daily Cal photographer Victoria Chow.

For more coverage of the Cal men’s water polo team, click here. Also, check out “This Week in Cal Sports” for a slideshow of Bears athletics.

Hopefully, that’ll hold you over until next week!

The Cal men’s swimming team began its 2009-10 campaign this weekend, defeating Hawaii on Friday and Pacific on Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Daily Cal photographer Anna Hiatt covered the Bears’ meet against the Rainbow Warriors, and  we are grateful that she snapped this mid-race image.

Cal heads to Stockton, Calif., this weekend as part of the Pacific Invitational, but the Bears won’t compete in Berkeley again until Nov. 11 for the Triple-Distance Meet.

For complete coverage of the pool, check out the Cal men’s swimming page on the Daily Cal website. For more photos by Anna Hiatt, click here. May we also suggest “This Week in Cal Sports,” a full slideshow of snapshots from the previous week in Bears athletics?