PALO ALTO “”mdash; Seventy-one minutes into the battle between two Pac-10 women’s soccer powerhouses, Stanford junior forward Christen Press sends a high shot sailing toward the UCLA goal.
UCLA redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Chante Sandiford leapt into the air to punch the ball away, but the ball bounced off her right fist into the back of the net as the rest of the Bruins watched helplessly.
“Obviously we gave up an own goal; that was a bit of a momentum-changer,” coach Jill Ellis said.
Less than two minutes later, Stanford senior defender Ali Riley dribbled the ball from the left and crossed it to sophomore Camille Levin, who headed the ball into the far post for her second goal of the season.
“I think we take the loss as a loss,” senior forward Kristina Larsen said. “But we need to use it as motivation ““ we came off hard and nodded off a little bit, and they came at us, and we just woke up too late.”
The No. 3 Bruins (12-2-1, Pac-10 3-1-0) split its Bay Area road matches this weekend, losing to No. 1 Stanford (15-0-0, 4-0-0) Sunday in front of 2,400 at Cagan Stadium and beating No. 17 California, 1-0, on Friday.
UCLA’s second loss of the season ended its 12-game winning streak as well as a 22-match Pac-10 winning streak. It also marked UCLA’s first conference loss since Nov. 3, 2006.
“I think when we want to, we can play the No. 1 team in the country, and we can dominate,” Ellis said. “We just consistently didn’t play a complete game. I think it’s a wake up call for some of our players to realize that we need everybody to step up. (Stanford is) a fantastic team. But I think we can play with them.”
Stanford outshot UCLA 24-14 on the day, but the shot disparity was much more evident in the first half, in which the Cardinal held an 11-4 advantage.
“I felt some of us were playing well and some of us were non-existent, and our freshmen were a bit gun-shy,” Ellis said. “It is a learning experience to come on the road, but I think it’s more about “˜What are we afraid of? Let’s get after them.’ I think we were more aggressive in the second half. People stepped up in the second half. But again, against a team with this caliber you’ve got to put up a complete game.”
Sandiford collected three saves in the match, while Stanford goalkeeper Kira Maker tallied five.
The loss puts UCLA at jeopardy of surrendering the Pac-10 championship. But for Ellis, the title is yet to be determined.
“It was one loss. We’ve still got five more games to play,” Ellis said. “All that we can control is the next game. I think we’ll be focused on that.”
Ellis added that she hopes the experience of playing on the road against top teams and in front of large crowds will benefit the Bruins in the future. The Bruins’ first loss of the season came in the season opener against then No. 1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., in August.
“This is twice now that we’ve played the No. 1 in the country on the road,” Ellis said. “So at some point, we’re drawing from it. Ultimately, down the road when playoffs come, that’s hopefully when that pays off for us.”
In the physical match against California on Friday, the game remained scoreless until a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the match when sophomore Sydney Leroux received a long pass from senior forward Lauren Cheney and raced ahead of a California defender. Leroux faced the Bears’ goalkeeper Gina Pellegrini one-on-one and fired a shot from inside 18-yards that put UCLA up 1-0.
Leroux leads the Bruins with 12 goals on the season.
Ellis said that Leroux’s pace was “frightening” and “shockingly fast” and credited Cheney, who has been working on the timing and execution of the final pass, for the assist.
“(Cheney)’s getting better and better at (the final pass),” Ellis said, “The vision was perfect, and the pass was well-delivered, and the finish was amazing.”
Sandiford recorded her sixth shutout of the season with three saves in the game.
The Bruins were able to contain the Bears’ star forward Alex Morgan, who registered six shots in the match but failed to score. With just less than four minutes left in regulation, Morgan struck a ball into the net that sent the California crowd cheering, but the goal did not count due to offsides.
“Our backline is getting better at stepping and dropping, and I thought I saw the (referee’s) flag go up right as (Morgan) took the shot,” Ellis said. “Alex Morgan, she’s a tremendous player. She’s going to get chances on the end. I thought we actually did quite a good job limiting her wide open looks.”
The physical match saw nine fouls from UCLA and 11 from California.
Yellow cards were also given to Cheney in the 63rd minute and to California sophomore defender Danielle Brunache in the 54th.
“We kind of knew, going in, they’re a very athletic team, very much like ourselves,” Ellis said. “So we talked about, we’re having to bring it. We’re playing on the road at their home field. The physical side of the game, mentally we had to be prepared.”
Larsen said that despite splitting the road matches this weekend, the trip was a good team-bonding experience.
“We love playing at home but on the road, we just have to take away the fans aren’t always nice, we kind of just stay with our game, stay together as a team,” Larsen said Sunday after the Stanford game. “Cal ““ we beat them, that was really good, but after that game we had to think about (Stanford) and come over here knowing that it was going to be a tough ground. It bonds us together.”