When UCLA women’s soccer makes the trip to Washington this weekend, it’s hoping to keep surprises an in-house thing.
The No. 1 Bruins (15-0-2, 7-0-1 Pac-12) now sit atop the Pac-12 with 22 points, with the Stanford Cardinal’s 19-point tally following close behind.
Falling just under second place in the standings are No. 22 Washington State (10-2-3, 5-2-1), No. 17 Washington (12-4-1, 5-2-1) and USC (10-5-2, 4-4-0) with 16, 16 and 12 points respectively. These three schools just happen to be UCLA’s last three opponents of the regular season.
With the conference victory worth three points, a draw worth one and a loss worth nothing, closing out the last three games with wins is almost a necessity if UCLA wants to make sure the Pac-12 championship stays in Westwood.
“Right now it’s all on us,” said senior midfielder Sam Mewis. “If we win out, we’ll win the Pac-12. It’s really good to know that it’s in our control.”
But the Washington schools have had a history of pulling off surprises against the Bruins. The most recent incident can be traced back to last year, when the then-unranked Huskies held a then-No. 3 Bruins to a double-overtime goalless.
“Whenever you tie a team, I always feel you remember the next year. … Even Washington State I remember we tied our freshman and sophomore year,” said senior midfielder Sarah Killion. “We’re definitely trying to get them back. It’s a little fuel to the fire.”
But in terms of any weather-related surprises, coach Amanda Cromwell said the trip to Oregon last weekend has primed them for any chance of Seattle rain over the weekend.
“We played on a sloppy field in Oregon State, and I feel if we can overcome that field, I think we can overcome any field or any weather situation,” Cromwell said.
While the Bruins may be wearing pink warm-ups for their game against Washington State to commemorate the last day of October, the real surprise is what they’ll be wearing after the game, on the flight from Pullman, Wash., to Seattle.
It’s a tradition that Cromwell started back when she was a coach at the University of Central Florida and has managed to adapt to UCLA.
The coach and her former team would always be around the New Orleans area close to Halloween and get to walk through Bourbon Street with their own Halloween costumes before flying back to Orlando, Fla.
Cromwell, of course, was not exempt from this dress code.
“The last time I did this, I let the UCF girls pick one out for me, which probably wasn’t the best idea, ’cause it was hilarious,” Cromwell said.
The players on that UCF team made sure Cromwell would get both a costume and a surprise.
“The girls heard that I didn’t have a costume and the hotel we were staying had some restaurants nearby, and one of them was Hooters. So you can buy one of those outfits, which I did not know,” Cromwell said with a laugh.
“So, that was me, a Hooters girl. Good times!”