There are two important events taking place this weekend for the
UCLA women’s soccer team as it hosts the Oregon schools at Drake
Stadium.
First, it will be the final weekend at home for the No. 6 Bruins
as they face Oregon tonight. Second, the Bruins will move on to
face Oregon State on Sunday afternoon, which is senior day,
honoring the Bruins’ lone senior, defender Tracey Winzen.
Of the two opponents, Oregon St. (8-7-2, 1-5 Pac-10) should pose
the biggest threat. Last year the Beavers managed to steal one away
from the Bruins in Corvallis, giving them their first win against
UCLA since 1995.
The Bruins (12-3, 4-1 Pac-10) outshot the Beavers 33-10, but
managed only one goal in the 2-1 loss.
“We bombarded them and we had tons of shots and we just
didn’t finish,” UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis said.
“They humbled us, and their goal keeper played an exceptional
game last year.
“Oregon St. has typically been the stronger of the two
Oregon schools, Oregon St. is a very physical team and very
competitive, but at this point we’re just focusing on
Friday,” Ellis said.
Record-wise, Oregon (2-11-2, 1-4-1) is having a horrible year
and has never beaten UCLA in Westwood. In 2000, the last time the
Ducks played in Westwood, they were trounced 8-0.
Indeed, it has been a tough season for the Ducks, who have 10
freshmen on the squad and are taking an awful beating in a
difficult Pac-10 schedule.
“They’ve played a lot of top ten teams,” UCLA
assistant coach Katherine Mertz said. “They have the
fifth-toughest-ranked schedule in the nation. They have a hard
schedule with a lot of injuries right now and they are a very young
team.”
Coming off of a 2-0 victory against USC to take sole position of
second place in the Pac-10, the Bruins might not catch first place
Stanford, but they are unperturbed and focused on finishing
strong.
“At this stage of the season, every game is
important,” junior forward Katherine Bjazevich said.
“We’ve got to win every single game the rest of the way.
We’ve got to show Oregon and Oregon St. that we’re the better
team by dominating and outplaying them, and I think that will
prepare us for the post season.”