Two years ago, 11 women made history together.
UCLA’s women’s soccer’s 2011 recruiting class is widely considered the most talented and deepest in school history, as well as one of the best in the nation in its year.
Now, the 10 remaining players have entered their junior year; seven start while two are deployed as impact players. The juniors have led the team to the Elite Eight as they close in on writing another chapter in UCLA’s history books by earning the school’s 110th national championship and the first national championship for the UCLA women’s soccer program.
Among the 10 are forwards Kylie McCarthy, redshirt sophomore Courtney Proctor and Rosie White; midfielders Sarah Killion and Sam Mewis; defenders Ally Courtnall, Abby Dahlkemper, Caprice Dydasco and Megan Oyster; and goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland.
Freshmen into the fire
The recruits were expected to perform from the get-go, and nothing demonstrated this more than several freshmen being thrust into the starting lineup early on.
But according to assistant coach Louise Lieberman, the coaching staff at the time knew that the experience these players accrued prior to college more than prepared them for the task at hand.
“You’re talking about kids that have played in national teams since they were 13 or 14 years old, and playing at high levels for a long period of time before they even got to college,” Lieberman said. “When you have that experience before you enter the college world, you’re automatically in a better position to step in and make an impact, and they certainly were able to do that.”
And just like Lieberman and the coaching staff predicted, the class delivered – the 2011 team that regularly started five to six freshmen earned a No. 2 seed in the 2011 NCAA tournament.
But their run came to a halt against San Diego in just the second round.
“I think freshman year losing so early was really disappointing because we had such a good reputation coming in, and we were taken aback that it didn’t just happen for us,” said Mewis of the learning experience. “It was tough, but it was also probably the best thing that could’ve happened then.”
The road to No. 110
In January 2013, B.J. Snow, the coach who recruited most of the current juniors, left the program, and everyone was scared for the future.
“Honestly, we were really sad, and we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Dydasco said.
But a few months later, Amanda Cromwell took over as coach, and things started changing.
“Once Amanda came, the transition was so smooth,” Killion said. “She understands us so well. She’s an amazing coach, and honestly this year so far couldn’t have been any better with her as head coach.”
Along with Cromwell came a new defensive philosophy, one that has kept the Bruins’ goals-against average at the lowest in the NCAA.
“Our entire defense is juniors, and defensively (they’re) one of the best in the nation, and I’m so proud of them. We’ve been working really hard, so it’s paid off,” Rowland said.
On Oct. 10, the team finally got rid of the proverbial monkey on its back. UCLA finally beat Stanford for the first time in seven matchups, avenging its loss to the Cardinal in the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA tournament.
With Stanford dethroned and an undefeated conference record in tow, the highly touted junior class finally brought home its first piece of hardware – a Pac-12 championship.
“It was just nice to feel like we’ve achieved something greater than just being ranked high or having a good record,” Courtnall said. “All that doesn’t mean anything unless you actually have a title underneath that.”
With a regular season title in the bag, and a 2-0 victory over rival Stanford in the Sweet 16, the road to No. 110 continues for the class that now leads the team as upperclassmen.
“The expectation is to obviously win a national title. But we know it’s not going to happen because we’re so talented,” Killion said. “It’s going to come from our relationships with one another and being able to trust each other on the field and understanding what we’re going to do.”