After an upset win last week to get to the final 16 NCAA teams, the No. 22 men's soccer team fell Sunday 2-0 at No. 6 University of California at Berkeley, finishing its season at 12-4-4 overall.
Sunday's game was marked by a roughly equal number of shots by the teams, but a red card for Brown stranded a player on the bench for most of the second part.
Golden Bear forward John Fitzpatrick scored the first goal in the 30th minute, and Cal's second goal came early in the second half, when Cal forward Davis Paul crossed into Brown's box and managed to deflect the ball off a Brown player and into the goal.
At 63:52, defenseman Eric Robertson '13 took a second yellow card, which benched him and left the team down one player for the remaining 26 minutes.
"Down 2-0 and down a man, we really pressed them, and the guys worked phenomenally hard," Head Coach Pat Laughlin said. "Those who were at the game and didn't know we were down a man wouldn't have guessed it during that time period."
Co-captain defender David Walls '11 said he thought the team might have scored if it hadn't been down the player.
"It just added to the task of overcoming a 2-0 deficit," Walls said.
"Cal is an outstanding team today," Laughlin continued after Sunday's game. "We had many good chances and we really fought hard against them. The guys did everything possible to try to win, but even though we had to play a man down for a good portion of the game, I thought that the players were outstanding and performed at the level they've played at all year."
Though Brown managed 15 shots to Cal's 13 — exceeding Cal's corner kicks 8-2 — Cal goalie David Bingham made nine saves. Thomas McNamara '13 had three shots on goal, but none of them got past Bingham.
News that Bruno had made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 came last week when the team defeated No. 9 University of Connecticut 7-6 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 deadlock. This season was Bruno's 25th appearance in the NCAA tournament, and its fifth in six years.
"It's always difficult when the season ends," Laughlin said. "But I'm really proud of the team and I'm proud of the way they've played throughout the NCAA tournament."
— Additional reporting by Ashley McDonnell
