CARY, N.C. “”mdash; With the forecast calling for rain Friday
night, the weather and sky held up but UCLA could not manage to do
the same against North Carolina, as the Bruins fell 2-0 in the
College Cup semifinals.
In a tough, hard-fought game before a highly partisan crowd of
8,412, the Tar Heels got two late goals less than three minutes
apart to advance to the championship game.
The North Carolina women’s soccer team went on to win its
record 18th NCAA title overall, beating Notre Dame 2-1 on
Sunday.
“I can’t really put into words how I feel right now;
my players probably feel the same way,” UCLA coach Jill Ellis
said. “I’m proud of my team, of their effort tonight,
and proud of our season.”
In a game much closer than the final score indicated, the Bruins
(21-4) slugged it out with North Carolina (27-1), but could not
pull off the victory in the end.
With both the Bruins and Tar Heels fielding teams full of
underclassmen, it was fitting that the game was decided by the
youthful talent on the field.
After 83
minutes of back-and-forth play, UNC freshman Casey Nogueira found
some empty space in the Bruin defense and unleashed a shot from 30
yards out, beating Bruin goalkeeper Valerie Henderson for the
game-winning goal.
With UCLA pushing forward and trying for the equalizer, Heather
O’Reilly notched a final insurance goal just two minutes
later to put the game away for North Carolina.
“I’d love to have both of (the goals) back,”
Henderson said. “The first one was a very well-hit shot. It
kind of knuckled and threw me off. It’s tough. (Nogueira is)
a good player. They were good goals.”
The first half of the game featured end-to-end action with both
teams creating several scoring opportunities, but neither school
was able to capitalize. The game entered intermission in a
scoreless tie.
With the wind at their backs for the second stanza, the Bruins
looked to attack the stingy Tar Heel defense.
UCLA almost broke through in the 36th minute, as freshman Lauren
Cheney served a brilliant long ball to a streaking Danesha Adams,
who broke free from the defense but could not beat UNC freshman
goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris.
Harris, coming off two ACL injuries in the past two years, had
come on during halftime for sophomore Anna Rodenbough and
immediately made an impact, finishing with two saves and also
making several savvy plays, including the stop on Adams.
Not to be outdone, Henderson made five key saves of her own
during the game, including a spectacular diving stop of a Yael
Averbuch shot during the 52nd minute to keep the game
scoreless.
She made another big stop in the 69th minute, pushing an
O’Reilly blast taken inside the box up and over the
crossbar.
Still, Henderson could not save UCLA in the end, as the Tar
Heels broke through and ultimately gained the victory.
The story for the Bruin offense was the disparity in offside
calls during the game. UCLA was whistled 11 times for being
offsides, whereas North Carolina had no offside calls.
In the second half alone, the Bruins were flagged 10 times for
violations. The calls severely hampered UCLA’s offense, as
offensive stars Christina DiMartino, Lauren Cheney and Danesha
Adams could not get a clean look on goal, and the decisions were
not without controversy.
“I thought in the second half our runs were so much
better, the timing of them,” Ellis said.
“We had players coming late from underneath, but the flag
went off for the initial call and the call was made right away. I
don’t think the play was allowed to go on. I think it was a
pretty rapid flag,” Ellis said.
Even though the loss ended the Bruins’ season on a somber
note, the team was still able to be proud of all it accomplished
over the 2006 season.
After reaching the College Cup for the fourth consecutive year
and winning four Pac-10 titles in a row, UCLA is already looking
forward to getting another shot at its first national title.
“I think that our team really gutted it out (Friday);
there’s no embarrassment,” Cheney said.
“North Carolina was an awesome team, and I respect them so
much, but our team gave them fits. With a different bounce in a
different game, it could have gone either way,” Cheney
said.
“I’m so proud of how we played. This team is legit,
and we’re going to make something happen in the
future,” she said.