Considering its record against nationally ranked teams so far
this year, the UCLA women’s soccer team should be happy that
in-state rivals No. 14 Cal and No. 10 Stanford are coming to town
this weekend. The seventh-ranked Bruins (10-4, 3-1 Pac-10) have won
five of their six games against nationally ranked teams so far this
season. But lately it’s been the more unheralded teams that
have given UCLA fits. Three of UCLA’s four losses this year
have come against unranked teams, including its most recent setback
Friday at Washington State. “We need to learn to treat every
team like they’re North Carolina,” senior Lindsay Greco
said. “That was something we lacked against Washington
State.” UCLA coach Jill Ellis emphasized how important it was
for the Bruins not to overlook the Cougars last week, but the
Bruins did not seem to take her advice to heart. Despite
outshooting Washington State, the Bruins failed to generate many
scoring opportunities and did not maintain possession of the ball
as long as they would have liked. A few weeks ago, UCLA had similar
trouble with a lesser-known opponent when it lost a home game to
unranked Utah on Friday night. Again, the Bruins rebounded against
a better team two days later, defeating national power Santa Clara.
“Even though we have six seniors, we have tended to focus on
only one team per weekend,” Ellis said. “I still
believe we can be a contender this year, but we’ve got to
keep our focus against the teams we should beat.”
INJURY UPDATE: Ellis is unsure whether injured
midfielders Michelle Gleason or Caitlin Ursini will be able to
return this weekend against the Bay Area schools. Gleason, who has
been hampered by an ankle injury the past month, did not play last
weekend against Washington or Washington State. Nor did Ursini, who
broke her wrist against Utah earlier this month. Defender Mary
Castelanelli, who has a pair of stress fractures in her back, did
not make the trip to Washington and also is questionable for this
weekend’s games.
PULLING RANK: Despite its loss to Washington
State, UCLA actually moved up one spot in the national rankings to
No. 7 in the country. Notre Dame (15-0) remains atop the rankings,
followed by defending champion North Carolina.
QUICK KICKS: UCLA will honor its seniors before
Sunday’s game against Cal because it will be the team’s
final home game of the year … Stanford, the only conference team
UCLA did not beat last year, tied the Bruins 0-0 in Palo Alto …
With her three goals at Washington on Sunday, UCLA forward Bristyn
Davis moved into the team lead with 10 goals on the season …
Forward Crystal James registered two assists at Washington to take
over the team lead with six.