BERKELEY, Cal. – A goal by Akinjide Awujo in the 87^th minute helped Villanova forge a 1-1 tie here against California Sunday afternoon in non-conference soccer action. The Wildcats (0-1-1 overall) scored off a corner kick with time winding down on a sun-splashed afternoon in the Bay Area.
 
The critical play began when sophomore Balthi Saunders sent a corner kick into the area directly in front of Golden Bears goalkeeper Collin Travasos. Awujo rose up and re-directed the ball with his head into the net at 86:49.
 
"I feel like it happened in about a second," state Awujo. "I had to dive a little bit to reach it but it was a great service by Balthi."
 
"We had a few runs planned," added Saunders. "We went with one of our sets and Jide was there."
 
Earlier in the second half Saunders and goalkeeper Kent Dickey made superb plays to keep the Wildcats within a goal. In the 47^th minute Saunders headed a ball out of harm's way on his own goal line that appeared to be ticketed for the net.
 
"I usually don't find myself on defensive corners," Saunders noted, "so it was a little bit of a surprise. The ball was just kind of coming to me. I didn't know I was that tall. I jumped up and hit it off the line. It was more of a reaction thing."
 
For his part, Dickey made a save by his extending his right hand in the 78^th minute that was another key play.
 
"You need your goalkeeper to make a big save if you are going to earn points and Kent did that for us," stated head coach Tom Carlin.
 
Cal had scored its goal in the final minute of the first half. Villanova was whistled for a hand ball inside its own 18-yard box, leading to a penalty kick opportunity for the Golden Bears. Fahmi Ibrahim converted the PK at 44:33 to give Cal the lead at intermission.
 
"We used a lot of guys and showed our depth," noted Carlin. "With 20 something seconds left in the first half we made a mistake and gave them one. And now you're chasing the game. It gave them the ability to sit and transition us. We sent a lot of numbers forward and that left us open to transition chances.
 
"Credit to us for staying with it. We went from last 10 minutes looking like we weren't going to get a point, to looking like we could get one point to looking like we might get three points. I'm really happy with where the group is at."
 
Carlin thought effort played a major role in grabbing the equalizer with time winding down.
 
"It was guys running hard," stated Carlin. "It was a great service by Balthi and a good job by Jide to keep it down."
 
On the whole, the coaching staff was pleased with its five day, two game visit to northern California.
 
"We're blessed to have the opportunity to take a trip like this," Carlin said. "The Esposito family's endowment helped us with this trip. It's an opportunity for our guys to come out here to see opponents they are not familiar with, get a little team bonding on a road trip. We're thankful to Villanova University to have this opportunity."
 
Villanova will have a full week off before playing its home opener on Labor Day, Monday Sept. 5 at the Higgins Soccer Complex against Northwestern at 1 p.m.