UCLA heads to Oregon this week with one thing in mind ““
coming out with at least one win and claiming the conference title
for the fourth year in a row.
With a win, the Bruins (16-2, 7-0 Pac-10) would become the first
team to win the Pac-10 four straight years, good for their seventh
conference title.
“It’d be great,” coach Jill Ellis said.
“It’s been a goal we set at the beginning of the year.
We take a lot of pride in winning.”
The No. 3 Bruins will face a tough Ducks team today in Eugene in
conditions that are nothing like those in Los Angeles.
“It’s freezing cold and pouring rain. The
gameplan’s out the window,” Ellis said.
All the Bruins need to do is tie one game this weekend and they
are guaranteed at least a share of the Pac-10 title with Stanford
(6-1-1), who have one game remaining. But for the Bruins,
abandoning their aggressive offense in favor of going for the tie
and guaranteed title is not an option.
“Ah, hell no,” Ellis said. “We’re going
to play how we normally play.”
All things considered, the Bruins stand a good chance of going
unbeaten and untied in conference play for the first time since
1997. The Ducks (10-6-2, 4-1-2 Pac-10) have only scored two goals
in their past four games and have dropped six straight to the
Bruins. Oregon State (8-8-2, 1-6 Pac-10) sits at the bottom of the
conference and have lost four straight to UCLA. However, the team
is not taking either school for granted.
“The biggest focus for us is to approach this game with
the same intensity we approached our first Pac-10 game,”
Ellis said.
If the Bruins win tonight, the team will have an opportunity to
rest players on Sunday and give others more playing time without
fear of taking a loss.
“It would be nice to give some players experience this
weekend,” Ellis said. “If we can take care of business
tomorrow, I’ll consider it.”
The squad so far this season has kept its focus on each upcoming
game without looking too far ahead. But the NCAA tournament draw is
on Sunday, and the Bruins are looking at a possible No. 1 seed.
Ellis knows that before any celebration on Monday, they have to
finish off their final two regular-season opponents.
“They all know what’s at stake,” Ellis said.
“But I haven’t really focused much on what all the
scenarios are and be professional about how we approach this
weekend.”
This weekend will also help determine whether and for how many
games the Bruins will gain home-field advantage for the
postseason.
Playing at home has been a huge boost for the Bruins, who have a
23-game home unbeaten streak and have only given up one goal in
their past seven games at Drake Stadium.
CHANCE TO BREAK RECORDS: If the Bruins get two
more wins this weekend, junior goalkeeper Valerie Henderson will
break the UCLA career record of 52 held by Lindsay Culp.
Freshman Lauren Cheney is also chasing a couple of frosh records
set last season by Kara Lang. If she gets one more win, Cheney will
tie Lang’s record of seven. With three more total goals, she
would tie Lang’s 17.