The UCLA women’s soccer team ended 2011 on a dark note, with a surprise loss in the second round of the postseason.
The beginning of the 2012 season, however, rang out with a bright note last Thursday.
As the team stood on Janss Steps, taking official team photos in the Los Angeles summer sun, they glowed with smiles, alight over the prospect of a new season.
They weren’t happy with last year’s early exit, and that loss is now ammunition for them to succeed in what is a brand new year.
“We can’t be too confident, we always have to feel like the underdog and never expect it to be too easy,” said sophomore defender Ally Courtnall.
“I think that’s what we’ve learned. We can’t see that win coming, we really have to work for it.”
Their intense work ethic does not mean that they are neglecting the fun that comes along with the game ““ as a particularly young team, the 2012 Bruins exuded joy.
“Right now, it’s so fun. Our team chemistry is just so good this year,” said junior midfielder Jenna Richmond. “Even though it gets tough … we push each other, the atmosphere is really good right now.”
The Bruins will open their season this weekend, traveling to the East Coast to face Connecticut on Friday and Massachusetts on Sunday.
UCLA suffered a major loss in the prolific Sydney Leroux. In December, she finished her Bruin career ranked in the top five of most offensive categories. The next month, she went first overall in the Women’s Professional Soccer league draft.
Then, the cherry on top of a whirlwind couple of months, last week she scored a goal with Team USA in the Olympics, aiding them in their gold medal run.
While Leroux is associated with uncommon greatness, the team rests assured that they can carry on without her.
Coach B.J. Snow noted that Leroux was undoubtedly a major loss, but the fact that she was the only starter from 2011 that they lost lessened the blow.
The team is ranked sixth nationwide by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America going into 2012, and predicted to finish second in the Pac-12 in a coaches’ poll.
As if their championship potential was not enough to spur on the Bruins, Thursday’s medal ceremony in the London Olympics gave them what they hope is a peek at their future.
Former Bruins Leroux and Lauren Cheney won gold with USA, and current junior midfielder Chelsea Stewart took bronze with Canada.
“(We are) motivated to try to be that person, it brings pride to us and our school, it really makes us proud to wear the uniform,” Courtnall said.
Snow is going into his second season as the Bruins’ coach. As he observed his young players, running around and taking pictures with one another after the formal group one was finished, he pondered the opportunities that come along with a brand new season.
While they can’t forget the past, the only way they can build is by working toward the future.
“This is a new team with a new personality, and last year was last year,” said Snow.
“We’re trying to build something based on the girls that we have now. … They’re a year older, a year more mature, a year more confident.”