Palm trees, a tropical climate and pristine sky blue water – those were prominent elements in UCLA women’s soccer’s first road trip of the season to Honolulu, Hawaii. But for one Bruin, there was an additional element: home.
In UCLA’s two road wins against Hawaii and No. 11 Pepperdine, the road game factor almost felt like an afterthought, with friends and family of senior defender Caprice Dydasco displaying UCLA apparel among the crowd in Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium in Oahu.
The Bruins made sure that their teammate’s family wouldn’t be exercising their vocal chords in vain by giving them plenty of things to cheer for in their 6-0 win over its host, Hawaii.
“It almost felt like a home away from home, we had a ton of supporters,” said assistant coach Josh Walters. “We won a national championship and (Dydasco) was a big part of that, so she’s a little bit of a local hero and celebrity.”
For a team that has consistently shown its prowess on defense, UCLA displayed hints last week of a potential vulnerability in attacking the goal against UNC and San Diego when they failed to score in their first 165 minutes for those games that weekend.
But as the team goes further into the season, senior defender Ally Courtnall said the rhythm and familiarity of going forward is starting to solidify within the team. Given Dydasco and Courtnall’s role as fullbacks, the increased confidence in attacking the wings translated to more goal-scoring options, with both defenders creating goals over the weekend.
“As games go on, I think (Dydasco) and I are getting more comfortable,” Courtnall said. “We’ve been working very well with each other and getting even more combinations in to get forward.”
The team gave those who doubted them a reason to reconsider with their five goals in the first half against the Rainbow Wahine (2-3-0) and scoring as early as the seventh minute.
“We’ve been waiting for the floodgates to open all year, and we just haven’t been able to do it … To just put more than three goals in the back of the net just felt so good,“ said senior midfielder Sarah Killion, who played a big role in the revitalized Bruin offense with two assists and one goal.
Even a change of personnel in the second half couldn’t stop the Bruins from scoring as they brought their goal tally to six by forcing an own goal out of Hawaii in the 54th minute.
UCLA (5-0-1) once again showed a renewed ability to score early in their 2-0 win against Pepperdine (4-1-1) with sophomore forward Darian Jenkins opening the scoring in the 13th minute to give the Bruins an early advantage over the Waves.
The team managed to take advantage of that pressure through Killion, who both doubled UCLA’s lead and her weekend tally in the 62nd minute with a goal scoring header.
The goal was set up by none other than Honolulu’s own Dydasco, who crossed the ball from the left wing for her teammate to finish.
“(Dydasco) and I always kind of lock eyes, and when we do we connect really well,” Killion said. “She played an unbelievable ball to the back post and I was just there to put it away with my head.”
The Bruins’ ability to finish will once again be placed under the scrutiny of the floodlights of Drake Stadium when they face off against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Friday.