In the third minute of overtime, senior forward Sydney Leroux geared up for a shot, sending the ball flying toward the top of the net.
It looked promising, a chance for the Bruins to put the game away after so many missed opportunities.
But instead, the ball bounced off the top of the crossbar and away from harm, leaving the game in a scoreless tie.
Leroux’s deflected shot was just one of many missed opportunities and unlucky bounces that preventing No. 5 UCLA from securing its 11th win of the season Friday against No. 25 Washington State.
The Bruins and the Cougars fought it out through double overtime, but neither team was able to score and the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
Ironically, it was not finding the back of the net that was a problem for the Bruins but rather scoring a legitimate goal.
The Bruins had two goals discounted through the 90 minutes of regulation play.
The first one was deemed offsides while Leroux was called for a foul in the box that caused the line referee to recall UCLA’s second goal with 25 minutes left in the match.
Leroux received a cross from a Bruin player making a run up the right side of the field and then directed ball into the net.
The senior, who leads UCLA with seven goals, took a team-high five shots on the night.
Freshman midfielder Sam Mewis also took five shots during the game as the Bruins outshot the Cougars 29-8 including 9-1 during overtime.
15 of UCLA’s shots came in the second 45 minutes of play as the Bruins fought to erase any memories of their lackluster first half performance.
Considering that the team had a week to prepare for Washington State, UCLA came out of the gate slow, making clumsy mistakes both offensively and defensively.
The Bruins’ possession game improved dramatically in the second half however, and UCLA dominated play the rest of the match, forcing the Cougars to play mainly on their own half.
After letting in four goals against Stanford, UCLA’s backline stiffened against Washington State as the team secured its ninth shutout of the year.
Freshman goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland played all 110 minutes in goal after being pulled in the first half during the Bruins’ game against the Cardinal last Sunday.
Compiled by Mansi Sheth, Bruin Sports senior staff.