When the best race car drivers get a big lead, they don’t slow down, get fancy or look behind them.
No, they keep their eyes forward and their foot on the throttle.
This makes sense, because on Friday, the No. 2 UCLA women’s soccer team, doing its best Jimmy Johnson impression, kept its foot on the gas and dominated the rival team, USC. The outcome was a big 5-2 win for the Bruins.
“A big focus of ours at halftime was the fact that we couldn’t let our foot off the gas because we knew what we were going to get out of USC coming into the second half,” coach B.J. Snow said.
Snow was exactly right, too, as the Trojans, despite facing a 3-0 halftime deficit, weren’t ready to give up the race.
Early in the second half, USC (7-13, 4-7 Pac-12) scored to make it 3-1 and grab some of the momentum back from UCLA (15-1-3, 8-1-2).
“I was very disappointed in the first two minutes of the second half,” Snow said. “I thought we gave away a cheap corner, and then we didn’t do our job in defending on the restart.
“Whether it’s 5-1, or 5-2, or 3-0, you know they’re going to work their tails off for 90 minutes.”
As much as USC fought, however, it couldn’t overcome the clear talent and speed advantage of a UCLA team playing its last regular season game of the year at home in front of a record Drake Stadium crowd of 3,826 people.
On senior night, UCLA’s star forward Sydney Leroux made her last regular season game one to remember for herself and the other four Bruin seniors, scoring two stellar goals en route to the easy victory.
“It was amazing. We just killed USC,” senior defender Summer Williams said. “It feels good. Especially against USC (on) senior night, we came out on top. I’m just so thankful.”
Apart from the two goals allowed to USC, UCLA executed exceptionally well on the evening, reflected in the five goals scored by three Bruin players: two from Leroux, two from freshman midfielder Samantha Mewis and one by freshman defender Ally Courtnall.
For a team that has struggled in the past to convert opportunities into successes, the past few weekends have provided a marked turnaround as UCLA has found itself scoring goals in bunches.
“It’s perfect timing,” Mewis said. “We’d rather be getting (the goals) now than have gotten them earlier and not get them now. The tournament’s coming. … I think it’s a good sign and practice is really paying off.”
The Bruins have been consistent in their short term focus, not looking beyond their next opponent. Friday’s game marked the last game of the regular season, and up next is the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve broken our season down into segments, and this was the last part of the next segment,” Snow said. “What we talked about today was closing the chapter on the end of the regular season with a good solid performance. Tonight, they didn’t just close the chapter. They slammed it shut.”