UCLA women’s soccer coach Jillian Ellis announced Tuesday that eight high-school players signed national letters of intent to play for the Bruins in 2009.
The eight signees include two U.S. Youth National Team players and two national team pool players. Three of the recruits are ranked in the national top 25 by ESPN RISE.
“This is a class with a variety of experiences at the youth level, from high-level club to national team experience,” Ellis said. “But all the players have intangibles that aside from their soccer ability, will make them good assets to our program.”
Zakiya Bywaters, Chelsea Cline and Ahsha Smith headline the class and are ranked as the 17th, 19th and 24th best recruits in the nation respectively by ESPN RISE.
Bywaters, a midfielder from Rancho High School in Las Vegas, Nev. was NSCAA/adidas Girls Youth All-American in both 2007 and 2008. Ellis described Bywaters as “DiMartino-like” in reference to UCLA’s All-American outgoing senior midfielder.
“Zakiya Bywaters is one of the most special players I’ve seen in a while,” Ellis said.
Cline, also a midfielder, is out of Shattuck-St. Mary’s High School in Des Moines, Iowa and was also awarded NSCAA/adidas All-American honors in 2007 and 2008. In addition she was named a Parade All-American during the same span.
Ahsha Smith, a California native from Skyline High School in Oakland, was a part of the Under-16 U.S. National Team Camp in 2007 and is expected to help the Bruins get wide on the attack. Ellis said Smith and Bywaters have both shown the ability to break defenders down one-on-one on the flank.
The class as a whole should increase UCLA’s athleticism and team speed. Half the recruits bring with them national team experience that Ellis said is invaluable.
“The upside to the national team experience is that they’ve played and traveled overseas and seen different cultures as far as how teams play,” Ellis said.
“And they’ve been playing against some of the best players in the country so their level (of play) is naturally going to be brought up.”
But Ellis also said that regardless of prior experience, each of the players will have something to prove when they arrive in Westwood.
“All these players are quality soccer players, it’s going to be about the ones that come in and perform,” she said.
“It’s about what you do when you get here, not what is on your resume. I’m a firm believer in that.”
The Bruins will lose a large class of seven seniors to graduation in 2009, including DiMartino, midfielder McCall Zerboni and All-American defender Erin Hardy.
While Bywaters, Cline and Smith all may be integral to helping filling the shoes left by DiMartino and Zerboni, Lucretia Lee, ranked as the No. 40 overall recruit by ESPN RISE, may also be called upon to help fill in for Hardy. Lee, a defender out of Ceder Park Christian High School in Bothell, Wash. ran track in high school, and should contribute further to the Bruins’ team speed.
But the seniors who are graduating did leave their mark on UCLA soccer. In 2009, the Bruins will look to play their way to a seventh-straight College Cup appearance. In each of the last six tries, the team has failed to capture the school’s first women’s soccer national title.
But the 2009 class of recruits should help fill some holes and position the Bruins for a seventh run at the championship that has alluded them.
“I think the players coming in, there is no guarantee about what their contribution will do, but I think with the development of the players returning and the influx of players in this class will position us to have another successful year,” Ellis said.