Two names highlighted the UCLA women’s soccer team’s 5-1 win over Oregon Friday night at Drake Stadium: Lauren Cheney and Sydney Leroux.
The two forwards scored two goals a piece and helped the No. 4 Bruins (13-2-1, 4-1 Pac-10) bounce back to their winning ways after the rare 2-0 loss to first-ranked Stanford last weekend.
Coach Jill Ellis said that Cheney and Leroux, a sophomore forward, worked together this week and formed a good combination.
“I think they’re two special players,” Ellis said. “I thought they’re starting to play well off each other in just three of four short days together. It was good. They both found the back of the net.”
Leroux scored the first goal of the game as well as UCLA’s final goal in the match.
In the fourth minute, Leroux scored on a left-footed shot from the top of the box, with assists from junior midfielder Elise Britt and sophomore midfielder Summer Williams. The forward put the exclamation mark on UCLA’s victory over Oregon (8-6-1, 0-4) on a header from the right side off of a cross from sophomore defender Amelia Mathis. Leroux leads the team in goals with 14 this season.
Cheney made her two goals within three minutes of each other.
At the 17:46 mark, almost immediately after Leroux throws the ball in, Williams touched the ball to Cheney, who also fired a left-footed shot from inside 18 yards to the right corner when Oregon goalkeeper Jessie Proulx came out a little. At the 20:06 mark, Cheney sent a low shot from the top of the box to the right post off of a feed from freshman midfielder Zakiya Bywaters.
For Ellis, the win Friday night was a team effort.
“There’s just some really good movement from us tonight off the ball,” Ellis said. “I thought our possessions were good. Everybody got involved, everybody contributed.”
Cheney would return the favor to Bywaters in the second half. Following a corner kick from junior Lauren Barnes, Cheney dribbled down the field, evading Oregon defenders with a nifty crossover, and tapped to Bywaters on the right. Bywaters fired a high shot into the net to score UCLA’s fourth goal of the game.
“I thought we played well as a team,” Leroux said. “I’m really happy me and Cheney really connected quite well. We came off a pretty big loss, so this game was pretty huge for us, and for us to come out like we did and win 5-1 was what we needed.”
UCLA plays again Sunday in a Breast Cancer Awareness game against Oregon State at Drake Stadium. The Bruins will sport special pink jerseys, which will be auctioned off online next week.
Several players, including senior forward Kristina Larsen, were absent in Friday night’s match.
“We had some players violate team rules so they weren’t with us,” Ellis said. “I’ll make a firm decision probably on Monday. It was just a violation of team policy, and we had to suspend them.”