It’s been a year since UCLA women’s soccer won its first national championship, and the team hasn’t had a drop in form and has seemed to have found a way to carry that momentum over to this season. The Bruins’ offense has found its way into the nation’s top 10, while their defense currently sits atop every other school in the country. As a whole, the team has managed to keep a firm grip on the No. 1 ranking it was awarded in the preseason after accruing a 17-0-2, 9-0-1 Pac-12 record in 12 weeks. With just one game remaining in the regular season, the Bruins have already clinched the conference championship, and will be playing for sole proprietorship of the trophy when they finish out their last game before the NCAA Tournament.
The Daily Bruin’s Aubrey Yeo spoke to Pac-12 Networks’ women’s soccer color commentators Tara Erickson and Kyndra de St. Aubin to get their thoughts on how the Bruins are doing compared to last year, who they think stands out the most in a team full of standouts and what they think this team’s post-season prospects are.
Daily Bruin: UCLA lost one starter from its championship team after Jenna Richmond graduated last year. We’ve seen sophomores Annie Alvarado and Lauren Kaskie both fill that second defensive midfield role. How do you think they’ve been doing filling in that spot?
Tara Erickson: Both of those kids have a ton of experience and Jenna was a great player in her own right, but the experience that (Alvarado and Kaskie have) already had and the program there; they’ve had those minutes and played and scored in critical games themselves.
Kyndra de St. Aubin: I think the key with them is their depth and the recruiting class they have coming in every year. When you have a program like that, the hope is you recruit a player from right out of high school and your freshmen, your sophomores and your juniors can all step up. I think that’s key.
DB: A lot of people have been saying the team seems even better than it was last year, is that something you agree with?
TE: It’s hard to compare, I would say, just because they’re playing great soccer right now; you can’t just look at it side-by-side from where they were last year. But from what I’ve seen in the last few games, things seem to be clicking, and just from talking to (coach Amanda Cromwell), she sounds very happy and excited about the momentum that they’re picking up here at the right time.
KSA: I don’t know if it’s that the personnel is that much better, I just think it’s the confidence. You know when you win a national championship, and you’re at the top of your game, and you’re ranked No. 1 in the country pretty much every single week from start to finish in the season. … I think it’s the confidence from last year that’s carried over, sort of a swagger. So I don’t know if there’s an area where you can point to and say, ‘wow, they’re way better in this compared to the previous season.’
DB: Who are some of the players on this team that really impress you?
TE: Obviously Sam Mewis, you can probably start with her. But I really like Abby Dahlkemper. I think she gets (overshadowed, not) because she’s gotten a ton of recognition and accolades where she’s at, but because they are such an offensive-minded team, that’s usually the thing that garners the most attention. … Their entire backline – and I think that starts and ends with Abby Dahlkemper, I think she’s just a great leader and an excellent center back.
KSA: You hear Mewis’ name on the news all the time, she’s always being honored with accolades. … But I think Killion and even Abby Dahlkemper – I think all of them have just really stepped up as seniors. And Rowland, when you have a goalkeeper that has that kind of leadership starting from the back, I think it really helps the team as a whole and builds confidence. I mean what have they allowed this season, four goals or something in the entire year? … I think Sam Mewis probably stands out the most if you justify that she’s as good as she is and following in her sister’s footsteps.
DB: What do you think of the job coach Amanda Cromwell and her coaching staff has done so far?
TE: I think UCLA has always been strong and under its previous coaching staff, the team has achieved success, but not quite that final piece that obviously Amanda has brought to them. I said that to her (last Wednesday) ‘I don’t know what exactly you’ve done, but you’ve brought all those pieces together.’ It seems like their team chemistry is really, really strong when you watch or listen to interviews with the players. I think that’s something that starts with the staff and starts with the foundation that they lay.
KSA: I think with Cromwell, first of all she’s only been there a few years now, but she obviously stepped into a crazy amount of talent, but I think the fact that she was able to take that team to the next level, it’s just her style. Wherever she’s been she’s had success. She won a national championship in her first season … their first ever for the program. … Everybody knows in this sport it usually takes a year or two, even more, to get accustomed to the coach’s style to get accustomed to the players and find a cohesiveness. But somehow they found a way to come together right away and found a way to win.
DB: How do you think UCLA will do in the NCAA Tournament?
TE: I expect them to make a deep run, and soccer’s weird and on any given day anyone can upset anyone, but they seem to be on a mission and their chances of going extremely far in the tournament are great. Can you say they’ll win it all? I don’t know because I haven’t seen everyone out there, but I think they are positioning themselves to make a deep run for sure.
KSA: I think they have probably the best chance of anyone else in the entire country of going all the way. I mean it’s tough to repeat, it’s tough to win one, let alone two years in a row. … But I think they easily have the best chance. They haven’t had a single misstep this entire season.
Compiled by Aubrey Yeo, Bruin Sports senior staff.