It was a fluke goal, a team taking advantage of an opportunity handed to them. Capitalizing on miscommunication and traffic in the box during a Santa Clara corner kick, Brittany Klein lofted a shot over turned-around UCLA goalkeeper Valerie Henderson, putting the visiting No. 5 Santa Clara Broncos (7-2-2) up 1-0 in the 22nd minute.
Prior to the goal, the No. 2 UCLA women’s soccer team (7-1-2) had been dominating Santa Clara in all aspects of the game. They were putting constant pressure on the Broncos’ back line with runs and hard shots. They cut through the defense with crisp passes like a hot knife through butter. But they could not break through.
Another team might grow disheartened by the way things were going, but not the Bruins. The team used the goal as motivation and cruised to a 4-1 victory in arguably their best showing of the season on Sunday at Drake Stadium.
“I think that it is our best game obviously to date,” coach Jill Ellis said. “We spent a lot of time in the last two and a half weeks trying to be better at possession. (Today) it paid off. I thought we played the ball around pretty well.”
From the sounding of the first whistle, it was apparent that the Bruins were the superior, and more rested, team. They created a number of scoring opportunities, applying intense pressure on the Bronco defense, working the ball outside before crossing it in to their forwards. But they could not finish.
Passes fell just short or were broken up. Off-sides penalties (the Bruins had seven in the first half) stopped drives, even nullifying a goal by Danesha Adams.
And with a fortuitous semi-bicycle kick, the outplayed Broncos found themselves ahead.
Like any disciplined and veteran team, the Bruins did not panic.
Seven minutes after that first score, UCLA evened the game on a Lauren Cheney goal. Freshman defender Lauren Barnes delivered the ball from the left side of the field to forward Kara Lang, who tapped it to Cheney for the goal.
Four minutes later, Cheney put the Bruins ahead for good with her team-high 11th goal of the season, finishing a cross from defender Lauren Wilmoth.
The biggest thing for the Bruins was maintaining their composure.
“The most important part of this game was that we were down a goal and we came back,” Lang said. “I don’t think that their goal was really a reflection of the way the game was going. We were hammering them from the first whistle. So I think the fact that we just kept at it and continued to do what we were doing obviously worked to our advantage.”
Wilmoth noted that there was no panic from the Bruin players after the goal.
“It was the first half and we knew that if we just forgot about it and still played our game collectively, and not get down and kept possession, then (good things would) happen for us.”
The Bruins added two goals in the second half with goals by midfielders Christina DiMartino and Caitlyn Mac Kechnie.
Throughout the game, the Bruin defense was able to consistently shut down the Bronco attack and did not allow their forwards to get into an offensive rhythm.
“(The defense was) outstanding,” Ellis said. “I just think that our back four are maturing and that is what you look for out of your non-conference schedule.”
With the win over Santa Clara, the Bruins end their non-conference portion of the schedule and begin Pac-10 play next weekend at home against Oregon State and Oregon.
“I think that we are doing very well right now,” Lang said. “We are definitely starting to gel and come together. I think that if we continue on in that process and keep up the momentum, we will be strong going into Pac-10.”