Wednesday’s exhibition match for the UCLA women’s
soccer team marked the first time fans got to see several new faces
in a Bruin uniform. The youthful Bruins showed their inexperience
at times during the 4-1 loss to Texas on Wednesday, but the team
feels it has learned from the match and will be fine once the
regular season starts Friday with a home game against San Diego.
Only four returning starters from last year’s College Cup
team started against Texas. “We played good soccer, at
times,” UCLA coach Jill Ellis said. “We’re down
five starters, and we have to maximize what we have.” The
Bruins not only are trying to make up for the loss of graduating
starters Nandi Pryce, Whitney Jones and Sarah-Gayle Swanson;
they’re also making up for the loss of two midfielders
““ Stephanie Kron and Stacy Lindstrom ““ who will
redshirt the year to compete at the FIFA Under-19 World
Championships. Also, defender Mary Castanelli is out with stress
fractures, and forward Iris Mora is playing for Mexico at the
Olympics and likely will miss the first five or six games of the
season, according to Ellis. UCLA was ranked No. 10 in the Soccer
America preseason poll and was chosen by the Pac-10 coaches to
repeat as conference champions because many of the current Bruin
starters were very highly touted recruits. Still, Ellis does not
expect her team to repeat last year’s 20-2-3 performance.
“If they expect to lose only two games this year,
that’s not being very realistic,” Ellis said. UCLA
showed some of its inexperience early, as the Longhorns scored two
goals in the first 10 minutes. UCLA sophomore Bristyn Davis scored
a goal in the 25th minute to cut the deficit in half, but Texas
went on to score two more goals in the second half. The team
wasn’t worried about the final score because the game was
only an exhibition. The players had only positive things to say
after the match. “I’m really excited a lot about this
group,” Davis said. “We’re getting used to each
other. We’re filling some gaps. We have to get comfortable
playing with each other.” Davis originally was named to the
U.S. Under-19 National Team with Kron and Lindstrom but later was
cut and will be available for the Bruins for the entire season.
“When you work for something so hard, you want to
succeed,” Davis said. “But God said I’m supposed
to be here.” Her return significantly will help a young Bruin
program with only four seniors in the starting lineup. But Ellis
and the preseason polls say this year’s team is a contender.
“You can’t push “˜fast forward,'”
Ellis said. “We’re very excited about these kids. (Kron
and Lindstrom’s redshirting) gives other players a
shot.”
NOTES: Freshman Valerie Henderson got the nod
in goal for the Bruins on Wednesday. Ellis did not name her the
permanent starter but did say the UCLA goalkeeping crew of
Henderson and freshman Ashley Thompson was the “best tandem
in the country.” Two other goalkeepers return from last
season ““ senior Sarah Lombardo and sophomore Arianna
Criscione. “¢bull; Pryce, an All-American for the Bruins the past
two years, has returned to UCLA as an undergraduate assistant coach
while she completes her degree. “¢bull; Katie Rivera, who was on
the Bruin roster the last three years, had to medically retire over
the off-season due to multiple knee surgeries, the effects of which
would be jeopardized by continued play.