Three of the four 16-team brackets for the NCAA women’s
soccer tournament had been announced, and UCLA had yet to hear its
name.
So there sat the Bruin women’s soccer team Monday at the
Morgan Center, sporting a 16-3 record, No. 4 national ranking,
seven game winning streak, and …
No. 7 seed? Possible quarterfinal game at North Carolina, the
women’s soccer equivalent of the Yankees, Packers, Celtics
and Canadiens all rolled into one?
“I thought we’d be a little bit higher,”
senior defender Tracey Winzen said. “But there’s
nothing we can do about it. I’m glad we’re at
home.”
The Bruins will host Loyola Marymount Friday night at 8:30 p.m.
at Drake Stadium. Should they beat the Lions, they will play Sunday
afternoon at 1 p.m. against the winner of the San Diego-USC game,
which kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday.
All matches are at Drake Stadium, where UCLA has posted an 8-3
record and beat San Diego 6-0 to open the season.
The Bruins also defeated LMU (3-2) and USC (2-0) on the
road.
“It’s tougher, but we’re more familiar with
these teams, so there’s a plus side to it,” junior
midfielder Sarah-Gayle Swanson said.
The NCAA’s efforts to minimize travel in the first two
rounds means that the Bruins and other West Coast teams are faced
with more competitive opening-round matches than teams in other
parts of the country. Penn State, for example, has such juggernauts
as Princeton, Maryland and American in its first- and second-round
brackets.
“I don’t think that I’m biased in saying that
I think a lot of lower seeds on the West Coast would beat a lot of
the higher-seeded teams on the East Coast,” UCLA head coach
Jillian Ellis said.
Five of the eight seeded teams come from either the Pac-10 or
the West Coast Conference. Stanford was the clear choice for top
seed, while Pepperdine took No. 3, Santa Clara is No. 6, the Bruins
are No. 7, and Portland grabbed the eighth seed. The committee
selected six Pac-10 teams.
UCLA was a No. 6 seed when it advanced to the championship game
of the NCAA College Cup.
That year, the Bruins lost to North Carolina, but with the Tar
Heels seeded second this year, the teams would have to meet up in
the quarterfinals ““ in Chapel Hill.
But given what she’s seen this year, Ellis isn’t
assuming anything.
“You would assume Carolina is going through, but everyone
has had upsets,” she said. “Besides Stanford, there
hasn’t been another team that’s really stood
out.”
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
UCLA earned its sixth and seventh consecutive victories with a
pair of 2-1 road wins at Washington and Washington State last
weekend.
Swanson returned from an ankle injury she suffered against
Stanford a month ago, scoring a goal in each game.