Just before Danesha Adams trotted onto the field for the second
half of Sunday’s match against San Diego, UCLA women’s
soccer coach Jill Ellis issued her an ultimatum.
Either score a goal in the next 15 minutes, Ellis told the
freshman forward, or expect to spend the rest of the match on the
bench.
Adams, who had not found the back of the net in over one month,
did one better.
She tallied two second-half goals, propelling the Bruins to a
3-0 victory over San Diego on Sunday afternoon in the second round
of the NCAA Tournament.
“Jill really got into me at halftime and let me know I
needed to score,” Adams said. “I struggled in the first
half, and I felt like I didn’t help my team out as much as I
could have. In the second half I was able to pull
through.”
If Adams, UCLA’s top goal scorer during the non-conference
season, catches fire again, it would be crucial to the 14th-seeded
Bruins’ hopes of returning to the Final Four.
UCLA (15-6) has won six of the seven games in which Adams has
scored, but is just 9-5 when she is held without a goal.
Lethargic and uninspired in the first half against San Diego
(12-8-2), Adams did not appear likely to snap her scoreless
streak.
The brief conversation with Ellis, however, provided all the
motivation she needed.
“I think it was my size eight-and-one-half foot in her
tail that did it,” Ellis said. “Danesha’s a heck
of a player when she’s working hard, but she gets tired too
quickly. We need to get more out of her each match.”
The Bruins got more than they could have hoped for from her in
the second half against the Toreros. Already leading 1-0 on a
first-half goal by midfielder Jill Oakes, Adams gave the Bruins
some breathing room in the 58th minute, heading a corner kick from
junior Iris Mora past San Diego goalkeeper Karen Cook and just
inside the far post.
Adams tacked on a second goal in the 81st minute, taking a pass
from senior Lindsey Greco and sliding it past Cook, who deflected
it, but could not keep it from crossing the goal line.
“It’s more psychological than anything,” said
Adams, who now is second on the team with 10 goals scored on the
season.
“I didn’t do what I expected to do in the first
half, so I was happy to be able to help my team in the second
half.”
Sunday’s victory, UCLA’s third postseason win
against San Diego in the past five years, puts the Bruins in the
third round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive
time.
Next up for UCLA will be unseeded Duke, who scored a 3-0 upset
win over third-seeded Virginia on Sunday.
Perhaps more important than the opponent for the Bruins is that
they will play their third-round game at home.
Had Duke not sprung the upset, UCLA would have traveled to
Virginia for its next match.
“It’s unfortunate for Virginia, but lucky us,”
Oakes said. “Knowing that if we won we would have one more
home game was icing on the cake.”
UCLA, which lost to Virginia 3-1 in September, seems to have
found its stride in the postseason.
First the Bruins shut out Pepperdine 1-0 in the first round on
Friday, outshooting the Waves 18-8. Then UCLA outclassed San Diego,
limiting the Toreros to just three shots on goal.
For a Bruin team that had not won two games in a row since the
opening weekend of conference play Oct. 8-10, those are pretty
satisfying results.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” Oakes said.
“After all the struggles that we’ve gone through,
everything is coming together at the right time.”