Whether it is the supportive fans or the familiar field, it is
always nice to play at home. The UCLA women’s soccer team
certainly has benefited from a heavy home schedule, breaking away
with a 10-0 home record this season. “We like playing at home
because obviously we are very familiar with the field and the run
of the surface,” coach Jill Ellis said. “There is a
comfort level with playing at home. I would say most of the kids
are a lot like me; they just enjoy being at home more than being on
the road.” Although the Bruins (11-2) try to balance out
their schedule between home and away games, this year’s
schedule happened to include more home games to start the season,
with 10 of the first 13 matches at Drake Stadium. With 10 home
wins, UCLA is only one away from tying the school record for
victories at home in a season, and the season is only half over.
“I think it’s a home pride type of thing, and we have a
lot of supportive fans at home games,” sophomore Christina
DiMartino said. “It’s way better being at home because
you have all your friends and family come to watch you play.”
More than just friends and family have been coming out to support
the Bruins at home games, as UCLA averages a Pac-10-leading 979
fans per home game. While the Bruins are clearly comfortable at
home, they will have to prove they can be dominant on the road as
well, with five of their next seven games away from Westwood. Two
out of only three UCLA road games this season have resulted in
losses. “We need to get responses on the road as well as at
home,” Ellis said. “We have to be able to adjust to
different surfaces and different sizes of fields. It’s great
to play at Drake, but we need to be a team that can win
anywhere.”
DIMARTINO SHINES: After strong play last
weekend, DiMartino has continued to demonstrate not only her talent
but also her solid work ethic in practice this week.
“(Yesterday’s) practice focused on fitness, and
Christina earned the yellow jersey we give out to the player who
had the best impact on practice that day,” Ellis said.
“She has done very well lately. She’s great on the ball
and is one of our fittest players.” DiMartino excelled in the
games against Cal and Stanford last weekend, notching two assists
to freshman Lauren Cheney against Cal and scoring one of the two
goals against Stanford. She now has eight points in the nine games
she has played, good enough for third on the team. Her
contributions in the Bruins’ games are the result of her
realizing the necessity of working hard in practice.
“Practice is really important because it is the only way to
prepare for the games,” DiMartino said. “You have to
always be focused, and even if you have one of those days when you
are really tired, you still have to plug in and try to push
yourself because you know it will prepare you for the
game.”
POINT LEADERS: UCLA currently leads the Pac-10
in points (70), goals (25), goals per game (1.92), shutouts (9),
corner kicks (69) and shots (213), but still believes there is
plenty of room for improvement. “We are really focusing on
trying to build up our possession in order to get good
opportunities for shots on goal,” DiMartino said.