The women’s soccer team is desperately trying to salvage its season and earn a bid to November’s NCAA tournament.
Last weekend might have been the turning point the Bruins were looking for – they came away with a big win over then-No. 15 Arizona and a draw against unranked Arizona State.
“I think we had a rough start to the season and now we are all coming together,” said junior forward Darian Jenkins. “I think the results from last weekend show that.”
This weekend, unranked UCLA (6-6-1, 2-2-1 Pac-12) hits the road to face unranked Oregon State (5-5-3, 1-4-0), a squad struggling against Pac-12 teams.
The Bruins have spent much of the week’s practice time breaking down the Oregon State defense, having non-starters mimic the Beavers’ field formations.
“We worked on possession,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “They have an organized defense. They are going to have two lines of four sitting there, trying to clog things up.”
Jenkins said she thinks the communication has improved significantly in the past two weeks since UCLA suffered two losses on its Washington road trip.
“Our trust in each other (has changed). We all have each other’s backs and we’re enjoying our time,” Jenkins said. “I think we kind of almost have been playing timid. I think this last weekend we proved that we can go harder into tackles, we can win every air ball, we can finish.”
Rotating goalies
For much of the season, the Bruins have not had a true starter in goal. Back in August, it was redshirt junior Cassie Sternbach in the box. However, Sternbach’s lack of consistency allowed redshirt freshman Arielle Schechtman to earn the starting job.
Cromwell, after starting Schechtman in the Pepperdine match, said she liked Schechtman in box because of her height, adding she looks imposing in front of the net. But Schechtman’s communication was lacking, Cromwell said.
So for the second time this season, the third-year coach switched goalies against Arizona, putting in redshirt freshman Siri Ervik.
“She trained well last week and she hadn’t been given her shot yet so we decided why not. Other players have been making mistakes and we have been trying different field players,” Cromwell said. “Coming in we thought Siri had the potential to start. She is a very good player. … She just needs more game experience.”
After two goals last weekend against the Arizona schools, Ervik will be starting again Friday.
“It was definitely fun playing last week, but we are still fighting for the position. For goalie, we still don’t have a true starter.” Ervik said. “I am just trying to do my best to keep the position.”