After a long weekend without their usual Sunday game, the women’s soccer team hit the North Athletic Field Monday morning, looking to sharpen things up after a 0-0 tie against Santa Clara on Thursday.
The meat of the morning practice focused on quick passes, quick touches, rhythm and timing.
In the Bruins’ first drill after warm-ups, players matched up 4-on-2, maneuvering the ball to one another as best they could in a small space about 10 yards wide and 30 yards deep. The team then moved on to an “end zone drill,” which opened up the field but served the same purpose.
Coach Jillian Ellis wanted her team to keep the ball moving as much as possible and take one to two touches rather than dribbling.
“We always work on some part of the technical aspect of the game,” Ellis said. “I just feel like especially against teams that are sitting in and getting numbers behind the ball, we need to play the ball faster and take less touches. So we are trying to encourage them to play in a two-touch rhythm as opposed to five or six touches.”
In addition to working on this technical aspect of the game, the team hopes the passing drills will help the team with its timing and chemistry.
“I think we’re just working on getting the rhythm of the game and all of us on the same tempo,” junior forward Lauren Cheney said. “That’s why you do those things ““ for timing.”
At one point during the first drill, Cheney paused to do a little coaching of her own. She harped on how midfielders and defenders can help prepare forwards to “check,” or come to the ball.
“We just talked about timing,” Cheney said. “Just reading each other, reading players and their body language, when you need to go and when you need to stay.”
The team is hoping to improve its passing by Friday, when it takes on Pepperdine at Drake Stadium.
Players said last week’s tie with Santa Clara might have ended differently if the Bruins had taken advantage of some opportunities.
“Thursday was a little tough because we dominated them so much in the first half,” junior forward Kara Lang said. “I think we had a little bit of a problem putting the ball in the back of the net. But all around, I think our team did really well.
“Our defense especially played a great game. They didn’t really give them very much at all. I think it’s something for us to learn from, and we’re glad the ties are coming early in the season so we can make the changes that we need to.”
Ellis said that teams have been defending UCLA well, and to score, the group will need to attack more with the quick touches they worked on, and focus less on dribbling.
“We just need to play quicker and smarter to break them (opponents) down,” Ellis said. “I think just the speed of play is the sort of thing we’re going to be focusing on, and how to break teams down with combinations more so than dribbling.”