They may not have been the prettiest of wins, but the UCLA
women’s soccer team accomplished what it set out to do.
UCLA disposed of two of the Pac-10’s lesser squads over
the weekend, beating Oregon State 3-1 Friday and Oregon 3-2 in
overtime Sunday to claim the Pac-10 title outright. More
importantly, the wins likely secure the Bruins a No. 2 seed in the
College Cup.
“It should be very likely that we are seeded No. 2,”
coach Jill Ellis said. “I’d be very, very surprised if
we were not.”
Tournament seedings come out today, and the Bruins (16-1-3,
8-0-1 Pac-10), who haven’t lost since a 5-2 setback to No. 1
North Carolina on Sept. 19, appear to be in good position to get
home-field advantage through the tournament’s first four
rounds.
Though wins are wins, Ellis was somewhat displeased with her
team’s performances against the Beavers and the Ducks.
“We weren’t firing on all cylinders,” she
said. “We just managed to do what we needed to do.”
UCLA got on the board early against Oregon State (7-11-2,
3-5-1), as freshman forward Bristyn Davis opened the scoring in the
10th minute. OSU’s Tessa Baker answered in the 35th minute,
but second half goals from Lindsay Greco and Sarah-Gayle Swanson
secured the Bruin victory.
“Friday we got better as the game went on,” Ellis
said.
Sunday’s performance was particularly lackluster,
according to the Bruin coach.
“We came out a little bit flat,” she said. “We
made it a little more interesting than it should have
been.”
UCLA needed an overtime goal from sophomore forward Iris Mora in
the 104th minute to seal the victory over the Ducks (9-11-0,
3-6-0).
The goal was Mora’s 11th of the season, to go with a
program-record 13 assists.
“She comes up with the big goals,” Ellis said.
“She’s been clutch for us.”
Prior to the weekend’s games, UCLA had been playing its
best soccer of the season, outscoring opponents 15-1 in its last
five wins.
“This weekend was a little hiccup, perhaps a little bit of
a wake-up call for us,” Ellis said.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
Sophomore midfielder Stacy Lindstrom, recovering from a high
ankle sprain suffered Oct. 17 against Stanford, played 31 minutes
Sunday.