As the No. 2 UCLA women’s soccer team gets set to start postseason play this Friday, coach Jill Ellis took time to reflect on her 10 seasons at UCLA with the Daily Bruin’s Matt Stevens. The UCLA women’s soccer program finds itself in a very unique position. The program has never won a national title but has gone to the College Cup six times under Ellis, including each of the last five years. Friday, the journey begins toward a seventh College Cup, and that elusive first national championship.
Daily Bruin: Now that the 2008 season is nearly complete, how would you evaluate it?
Jill Ellis: I would say two-thirds of our season has passed, and at this point I am extremely pleased with where we are. The non-conference part of the season went well when we were on the road and we got a big win at Portland. I am pleased to go over to ‘SC to get a result and to beat Stanford. These are some very big tests for us. Up to this point, we’ve given up four goals. These are very positive things that as a coach I cannot be displeased with the things that we have achieved to this point.
DB: What has been the key to success for this Bruin team?
JE: We have a talented and motivated group of players. I think ultimately as a coach you need talent and you need players that want to compete and are committed to getting better. That has always been the backbone of the program over the past three years.
We are able to bring in good players but we as coaches have to put them in a position where we’re going to continue to help them evolve as a team. They have to want that, and if you put all that together you have a good formula for success. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s part of the ingredients for success.
DB: Heading into the postseason, what makes this team any different than the last five?
JE: We’ve had smaller senior classes in the past, but this year we have seven and they are all important to this team. It’s not a situation where we only have a couple of seniors. These seniors are all important. … We met early as a team and said we didn’t want to have regrets.
During the first team meeting, the first two words I wrote on that board were “No Regrets.” And I said, if we can go through the season, look back on it, and feel that we’ve had no regrets, it will be a successful season. … Then I asked the players to give me their foundations for success. Some of the things they came up with were leadership, commitment, chemistry and execution.
Execution is when we are in those big games and are we finishing our chances. It’s not just reliant on the forwards, but we have to be limiting our mistakes and finishing our chances. That is ultimately what determines whether we win a championship or don’t win a championship. We create opportunities, and if we finish those chances we position ourselves to win. … The execution part at this point, such as dealing with and playing under pressure, is the thing we want to have no regrets about.
DB: You are in a very unique position being able to now take a run at a sixth College Cup in a row. What wisdom can you impart, being in this position?
JE: The wisdom I would impart as far as having been to five College Cups would be ““ it’s not easy. Every year is difficult and different. What I’ve done after every postseason is evaluate myself, my team and my staff. I think it is important to reflect on the things that have gone well and the also why we haven’t brought home the first-place trophy. … Looking back on all of those teams, we had been talented, close-knit and competitive. The difference is finishing a penalty kick in the ninth minute of a game instead of falling to Notre Dame in overtime.
If those things happen then I think you get the result. … Every year people say, “It’s going to happen”, but in my first year here I lost 7-0 against Santa Clara. After that game, I went inside and I said, “This is never going to happen again. We will never be blown out like this again, because I’m going to work my tail off to develop the players and bring in a staff.”
Now, to see us in the game, I feel good about it. Getting over the final hump, it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when. If you are in the game, you have an opportunity to win.
DB: To what degree is it frustrating that you haven’t gotten a national championship?
JE: I don’t think frustration would be the word because from a very young age I learned from my father that you have to earn. Things are not handed to you, and you have to earn the result.
I think frustration comes with feeling like you deserve something but didn’t get it. The fact that we haven’t won a championship tells me that we haven’t earned one yet.
DB: How have you managed to build a program where it’s almost expected that you are going to get into the postseason?
JE: Sustaining success is extremely difficult, and I tip my hat to people that can do it. When you’re outside looking in you say, “Oh it must be nice and easy to get National Team players,” but it’s really not.
When we had gotten to the finals I remember asking coach Wooden one time how he dealt with success. He essentially said, “You embrace it, because you have gotten people’s attention and it is something you should enjoy and not fear.” I have come to respect the game enough never to expect a certain outcome because when you think it’s your year it’s not.
DB: What’s the biggest difference between the coach who made her first trip to the College Cup and the coach I’m sitting with right now?
JE: In a way I’d like to say that I’m not different. If I wasn’t enjoying it, if it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be doing it. And that’s how I felt back then. I think I have more balance in my life. I’m motivated and I’m locked on, but I think the coach that was there (before), I think I was pretty one-dimensional. I’m more balanced. I have a daughter, and there are other things that give me joy.
How am I different as a coach? I think I’m a better coach now. I think I’ve experienced more in the past nine seasons. I know in recruiting, we used to recruit a big pool of players, and now we are able to recruit a smaller pool, because with success comes interest in our program. But I think I’m a better coach and I’m probably a more balanced person.
DB: Will the season be considered a disappointment if you don’t make it to North Carolina?
JE: I would turn the noun into an adjective. It wouldn’t be a disappointment, it would be disappointing. I can’t look my players in the eye that have worked their tails off, or my staff that have given everything for this season, and say that this season was a disappointment.
But it would be disappointing for everybody for us not to return to the College Cup.
DB: You’ve come so close, so many times. How bad do you and your team want this?
JE: To say how bad to we want it? As bad as every other year. I don’t think (senior) Erin Hardy would want it any less as a freshman than she would as a senior.
I’m sure if someone wins an Oscar, they want it the next year. I’m sure if we were fortunate enough to win national championship, would I want it next year? Absolutely. To win a championship for our school and our program, it would but absolutely wonderful. But then again, I’ve said that every year. I think it would be a wonderful thing, and if we win, I’d say it the next year.