No. 1 UCLA women’s soccer faced a test last week against No. 3 Stanford.
Despite going down by a goal, the Bruins were able to pass the test against the Cardinal with flying colors and eventually take the contest 2-1.
“It was a huge win for us and a huge confidence boost,” said senior defender Ally Courtnall. “I think it showed how well we can play, and it is setting that standard for the rest of the season and how we should be playing like.”
On Monday, the team occupying the South side of Drake Stadium will be in a darker shade of blue, as No. 22 Cal is the team that will present the next test for the defending national and conference champions.
On one hand, UCLA is on on a steady rise since it opened conference play with a 1-1 draw at Arizona State.
“When we went down against Arizona State, we equalized, but we didn’t get the goal I thought we earned by how many attacking runs and chances we created,” said coach Amanda Cromwell.
Since that result, which senior forward Rosie White called “frustrating,” the team has managed to find redemption with three straight wins, eventually catapulting itself to No. 1 in the conference standings.
“Prior to (the Stanford game), we have given up dangerous chances that a team could potentially tie us, so I was really proud about how we killed it at the end,” Cromwell said.
On the other hand, the story of Cal’s journey through the Pac-12 is hard to describe linearly. After claiming a 4-2 win against Colorado two weeks ago, the Golden Bears saw their national rankings slide 10 spots after back-to-back losses to both Washington teams.
In a similar fashion to UCLA in its win over Stanford, Cal became another Californian team to rally back from 0-1 and beat their red-jerseyed opponents 2-1 on Friday in its win against USC. With that result, Cal (10-3, 2-2 Pac-12) now ranks fifth in the Pac-12 heading into its matchup with UCLA (11-0-2, 3-0-1).
Despite both teams’ late-game heroics in their most recent matchups, only one team – or in the event of a draw, neither team – will walk away with a perfect record in its two-game series.
While the prospect of claiming all six points from the series will be on the line on Monday, UCLA’s game against Cal will also be a test for the team to disprove a trend that it’s been facing throughout conference play.
Although UCLA has proved to be formidable when it comes to defending the back of its net, only allowing four goals in 13 games, the team seems to be unable to keep a clean sheet whenever it faces a ranked Pac-12 team, conceding one goal each to then-No. 24 ASU and No. 3 Stanford.
When UCLA faces Cal, it won’t just be an opportunity to claim a perfect weekend and extend its lead over the Pac-12. It will also be an opportunity for the team to prove that its defense has what it takes against one of the toughest conferences in the country.
“It’s really important to get back on our rhythm and keep getting shutouts as best as we can,” said senior defender Abby Dahlkemper. “That will only allow us to win more games.”