Coming off a season that ultimately ended in heartbreak, the
UCLA women’s soccer team is back and more motivated than ever
before. The Bruins began their preseason practice last Wednesday
and practiced twice a day for two hours in the morning and two
hours in the late afternoon the rest of the week. “It’s
great to be back,” sophomore goalkeeper Valerie Henderson
said. “We try to play over the summer, but it’s just
not the same quality.” Last year, as the 14th seed in the
NCAA Tournament, the Bruins made an improbable run to the NCAA
Championship game that included upset victories over No. 6-seeded
Ohio State in the quarterfinals and No. 7 Princeton in the
semifinals. Facing No. 4 Notre Dame in the championship match, the
Bruins had a chance to break the 1-1 tie in regulation after being
awarded a penalty kick. But now-graduated senior and undergraduate
assistant coach Kendal Billingsley could not convert, and the
Bruins would go on to lose 4-3 in penalty kicks. “We all left
that game knowing that we could take the extra step further,”
sophomore forward Danesha Adams said. “Now we just have to
work 10 times harder to get there again because we know we can be
there.” While getting back to the position they were in last
year will be a long and difficult task, coach Jillian Ellis has
seen a lot of early potential in her new group of players.
“Watching the inter-squad scrimmage, we’re definitely
deeper across the board than we were last year,” Ellis said.
“It is fun to see new personalities and see some of the
players that we invested in during the spring starting to
shine.” And although it is early in the year, Ellis has
already identified a weak point for the team. “A lot of the
players were more fit at the beginning of last season than they are
this season,” Ellis said. “That’s something
we’re going to have to really focus on.”
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: One of the biggest reasons
Ellis is so excited about her depth is due to the 10 ranks. The
Bruins are returning a good part of their core players from last
year, but are counting on the freshmen to step up and immediately
fill some of the holes. “Every single one of (the incoming
freshmen) were recruited here to impact us in some way, shape or
form, and my expectations are pretty high for all of them,”
Ellis said. “We’ve got to fill a space in the back, so
we’re looking at Erin Hardy and Coco Kleinert to try and hunt
one of those positions down. We’ve also got great
midfielders, Catherine Calvert and Caitlyn Mac Kechnie, that are
playing well and competing for midfield spots.” While the
freshman class is considered to be strong at every position, it is
at forward that UCLA boasts its two most highly touted recruits in
Christina DiMartino (Massapequa High School, New York) and Kara
Lang (St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Ontario, Canada). DiMartino is the
reigning National High School Player of the Year, while Lang was
the youngest player in history to play for the Canadian national
team, at just 15. “Lang and DiMartino are two special
players,” Ellis said. “They are very different from
each other, but both are very good quality.” In addition to
the freshmen, the Bruins will also be receiving a boost from
midfielders Stacy Lindstrom and Stephanie Kron, who return to play
for UCLA after sitting out last season to play for the USA U-19
national team.
DAVIS RECOVERING: Junior forward Bristyn Davis
is recovering from offseason ankle surgery and is at least three
weeks away from running. Davis, who led the team with 14 goals last
year, had an extra bone removed from her ankle and has been hard at
work rehabbing the injury. “It’s an injury that
we’re going to be very patient with,” Ellis said.
“She’s a captain, so she’ll ease her way back in
pretty quickly.” UCLA opens its season on Aug. 26 against
Long Beach State.