One word that could aptly describe the Utah women’s soccer team is ‘underdogs.’
Despite posting an undefeated 7-0-3 record, UCLA’s Friday opponent continues to lie as a sleeper team outside the NSCAA Coaches top 25 poll, ready to spring an upset against higher ranked teams. The same kind of upset that UCLA assistant coach Joshua Walters doesn’t want to happen to the No. 1 Bruins – again.
“We went on the road last year and tied them. That’s one of our two (Pac-12) ties of the year,” Walters said. “I think people don’t give them credit for how good they actually are.”
It was back in October of last year when an unranked Utah took a surprise lead over then-No. 2 UCLA in the 17th minute and forced the Bruins to a 1-1 draw.
It won’t take too much digging into this season’s schedule to find out when the Utes pulled off their last big upset. Just a week ago, the team scrapped out a 1-1 tie against then-No. 4 Stanford, a feat only managed by being the first team to breach the Cardinal defense all season and ending Stanford’s run as the only NCAA Division I team to have a shutout streak.
With the No. 1 Bruins (8-0-2, 0-0-1 Pac-12) suffering from an upset of their own last week against the then-No. 24 Arizona State Sun Devils, the team knows that nothing but a win at home against the Utes (0-0-1 Pac-12), and three points towards the conference standings, will solidify their intentions of repeating as conference champions.
“I think we’ve got a lot to prove for ourselves in the Pac-12 conference,” said senior forward Rosie White. “Last week was pretty frustrating for us getting the draw.”
Despite the tendency of teams to overlook Utah, Walters has a familiarity with the Utes, something he owes to his four years spent on the coaching staff of Utah State, during which he developed a friendship with Utah coach Rich Manning.
“He does a very good job; they play the game the right way; they play the game a lot like we do,” Walters said. “They’re a possession based team; they defend really well as a team; they’re extremely hard to break down.”
As a team focused on protecting the back of its net, Utah will likely be trying to capitalize on its opponent’s defensive lapses through counterattacking to generate most of its chances. For UCLA, the answer to prevent the Utes from scoring is a mental one: discipline.
“As long as we’re organized in the back, I don’t think we need to worry about a counterattack,” said senior midfielder Sam Mewis. “I think we’ll be fine.”
In terms of how the Bruins will play the matchup going forward, Walters said it’s on them to produce the right amount of flash that could crack open the Ute’s tight defense and make things a little messy.
“Our hope is that … we can find ways to be creative on the ball. You should see a little bit of flair.” Walters said. “Hopefully you’ll see a little bit of Barcelona.”