Bristyn Davis picked the ideal time to end her scoring
drought.
The touted freshman forward had been held without a goal for
nearly a month before netting a game-winner with less than two
minutes remaining in double overtime to give No. 3 UCLA a 3-2
victory over the No. 9 Washington Huskies Saturday night at Drake
Stadium.
“Right at the end of regulation, I told her she was
due,” UCLA coach Jill Ellis said. “I’m so happy
for her. This was a huge win for us and huge for her
confidence.”
A prolific goal-scorer in high school, Davis might be the
Bruins’ most explosive offensive weapon, but she has
struggled to finish plays all season. Davis created several scoring
chances for herself in regulation play against the Huskies (7-3-1,
0-1-1 Pac-10), but could not convert any of them.
With the score tied 19 minutes into overtime and her teammates
showing signs of fatigue, it was Davis who came up with a
spectacular individual effort. After receiving a pass from
sophomore Iris Mora along the left sideline, Davis dribbled into
the box and created enough space for herself to slide the ball
underneath Washington goalkeeper Lisa Brookens for the
game-winner.
“The whole game I had been trying to shoot from that
angle, and everybody had been telling me to pass it off,”
Davis said. “But this time I was thinking, there’s two
minutes left. I’m going to get this goal. It’s
mine.”
She got it, and UCLA (9-1-2, 2-0) secured the victory, but the
Huskies did not go down easily. Despite outshooting Washington
20-9, the Bruins squandered a pair of one-goal leads and at times
struggled to match the Washington counterattack.
UCLA took a 1-0 lead on a Sarah-Gayle Swanson header in the 35th
minute before the Huskies’ Alex Mills tied the score 1-1.
Mora assisted on each of the Bruins’ three goals and had a
chance to win the game in the first 15-minute overtime.
After Whitney Jones headed in a free kick off Mora’s foot
in the 65th minute to break the 1-1 tie, the Huskies quickly evened
the score.
The Huskies’ Melissa Bennett took advantage of a
retreating UCLA backline to fire a 40-yarder past goalkeeper
Arianna Criscione’s outstretched arms and into the
net’s left side. Criscione was caught off her line and
appeared to be expecting a pass.
“She caught our goalkeeper unaware,” Ellis said.
“We didn’t get pressure on the ball, and our goalkeeper
was just out of position. She buried it. It was a great
finish.”
Three minutes into extra time, Mora dribbled into the box and
appeared to be pushed to the ground by a pair of Washington
defenders.
“It was kind of a sketchy call,” Ellis said.
“(The referee) said she came in and threw herself at her.
Iris is so sophisticated in the way she rolls people off of her.
There was no question to me that it was a penalty kick.”
The score remained knotted at 2-2, paving the way for
Davis’ last-minute heroics.
The goal was particularly important for Davis, who has been
trying to establish her role with the team after weeks of
vacillating between the starting lineup and the bench.
“Being a freshman, you have to show that you deserve to be
on the field,” Davis said. “I have been fighting and
fighting to get back out there. That goal today builds a lot of
confidence.”