Away they go.
At the beginning of the season, the UCLA women’s soccer
team looked to Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France exploits for
inspiration. Now, 16 games later, the team hasn’t
forgotten.
“The season is a bunch of stages,” coach Jill Ellis
said. “Sometimes you have to grind it out. Other times you
just have the wind under your feet.”
After grinding out a hard-fought tie and win two weekends ago in
the Bay Area, the team is finally moving with the wind.
Coming off of two impressive victories over the Arizona schools
last weekend, the Bruins will look to continue their solid play
tonight at home against Loyola Marymount.
“For the first time in a long time, everyone is having
fun,” senior defender Nandi Pryce said after Sunday’s
game. “It’s awesome.”
One would expect that a team with a record like No. 3 UCLA
(12-1-3, 5-0-1 Pac-10) would always be having fun, but that’s
simply not the case.
“These players are perfectionists,” Ellis said.
“When we beat a team in a fashion that isn’t our
standard, it’s deflating.”
That seemed to be happening a lot with the Bruins’ early
conference schedule. Though undefeated, UCLA needed overtime to
beat Washington State and Washington, was held scoreless in a tie
with Stanford, and was lucky to escape with a 1-0 victory over
California.
But then came the Arizona schools. UCLA exploded over the
weekend, registering a 4-1 victory against Arizona State Friday and
shutting out Arizona, 4-0, on Sunday.
“We’ve come off two good wins, and we’re
excited about the way we’re playing,” Ellis said.
“When you go out and score goals, it’s fun.”
The team also has the Pac-10 title in its sight, with only one
victory required from its final three games in order to clinch at
least a share of the title. Though that victory could come Sunday
against USC, the team is currently focused on the task at hand.
“We’re not looking past LMU,” Ellis said.
“We respect them as a team. They have gamer-type players who
can be dangerous.”
LMU (7-7-3, 0-5 West Coast Conference) is led by senior
midfielder Shari Nishikawa, who has registered four goals and two
assists on the season. Sophomore midfielder Kelly Lewandowski has
tallied four goals and one assist.
Though UCLA is 8-0 in the all-time series with LMU, the Lions
have played some tough matches against good teams. LMU beat
Stanford and posted ties against USC and Washington. Just last
weekend, the team gave Portland all it could handle before losing
1-0 late in the second half.
“I’m glad we have this game,” Ellis said.
“It will keep us sharp and fresh.”