It would have been easy for coach Jill Ellis and the UCLA
women’s soccer team to just pass this season off as a year of
rebuilding.
The Bruins lost four starters, three of them All-Americans, to
graduation.
Two other talented and significant starters, Stephanie Kron and
Stacy Lindstrom, left the team for a year to play on the U.S.
Under-19 National Team.
If that wasn’t bad enough, two incoming freshmen who were
expected to contribute, Theresa Oda-Burns and Melissa Briggs,
suffered season-ending knee injuries before the season started.
Take away eight significant contributors from any other team,
and I’ll show them the door to an early playoff exit.
But not with this women’s soccer team.
Despite all the players lost and a slew of injuries, UCLA is
hosting a third-round NCAA Tournament game Saturday against
Duke.
After what was, at times, a very inconsistent season, the Bruins
remained co-champions of the Pac-10 and are now the favorites to
advance to the NCAA quarterfinals with a win this weekend.
“I think I have to give everyone on our team a round of
applause,” said senior Kendal Billingsley, one of the
captains on the team.
“Everyone’s stepped up. Some players have had to
switch positions; some freshmen are having to play regularly.
“Everyone’s playing with more confidence
now.”
The Bruins have beaten several good teams this year, but have
also suffered some bad defeats, which is to be expected with a
young team.
But in the team’s two playoff games, only the team that
had beaten good teams showed up.
“I’m really pleased with the resilience of this
team,” Ellis said.
The Bruins have made it to the round of 16 in all six of
Ellis’ seasons in Westwood ““ an even bigger achievement
when you consider that the program Ellis inherited was mediocre at
best. UCLA had never been a women’s soccer powerhouse until
Ellis came along.
And even in a season in which they were pegged to struggle, the
Bruins are still one of 16 teams remaining, which, combined with
Ellis’ previous success, has got to make her one of the best
coaches in the country.
Even if she won’t take the credit for the Bruins’
success, she is undoubtedly a big part of it.
“Ultimately, it comes down to the individual,” Ellis
said. “Coaches don’t win games.”
This indeed may be the case, but it’s their job to put
their teams in the best position possible to win, and Ellis has
clearly done that this season.
She has particularly helped prepare the team mentally, which is
critical because the young players haven’t developed as much
experience at collegiate level.
“At the highest levels of athletic competition, what
separates teams apart is their mental capacity,” Ellis
said.
There was no letdown over the first weekend of the NCAA
Tournament ““ the first time the Bruins had won two games in
the same weekend in over a month.
But even if they lose on Saturday, it would still be a
successful season And with a successful season, the future of the
program looks very bright, next year promising that much more.
Along with the U-19 players, the injured freshmen, and what is
expected to be a solid recruiting class next year, UCLA will have
had a year under its belt to gel.
Every non-North Carolina program is supposed to have a bad year
once in a while, but in what was supposed to be the Bruins’
bad year, at the very worst they’ll be able to say they went
to the Sweet 16 and won a share of the Pac-10, and will probably be
able to say they made it to the quarterfinals after this
weekend.
“Everyone realizes you can’t have lapses,”
Billingsley said. “As long as we’re playing our best, I
think we can get back to the College Cup again.”
And what a story it would be for this team if it could get
there. It’s not that unrealistic.
A win at home on Saturday and one upset against either No. 6
Ohio State or No. 11 Tennessee, and the Bruins would be in the
College Cup for the second consecutive year and for the third time
in the last five years.
“We don’t just want to be satisfied with where
we’re at,” Ellis said.
It’d be easy for this team to be satisfied making it to
the third round.
But then again, if this team was easily satisfied, it
wouldn’t have made it this far.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.