UCLA is a soccer school.
Why a soccer school and not a basketball school?
Steve Lavin might have had a lot to do with it, but UCLA
hasn’t been able to call itself a basketball school since the
Wooden era.
Still though, why do I, in the modern spirit of classifying an
entire school as belonging to a sport, call UCLA a soccer
school?
Because soccer has been the most dominating sport during my
three years at UCLA, and I’m too self-centered to look back
further.
Plus, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams have
great chances to win an NCAA championship this year (assuming a
witch can take the curse off the women’s team).
Why did I choose soccer (and why do I keep asking rhetorical
questions?)?
Well, the only other sports that have won NCAA championships
recently other than men’s soccer are gymnastics, softball and
women’s water polo. There is no men’s gymnastics team.
There is no men’s softball team. (Men’s softball really
does exist. The United States has a men’s softball team.
I’m not kidding)
Note that for all of the following, I’m not ripping any of
these sports. They’re all very good programs. Some are just
better than others.
There is a men’s water polo team, but during my time here,
the women’s soccer team has been stronger.
Stats from 2001-2003:
Men’s water polo: 48-17 (.738)
Women’s soccer: 57-8-3 (.860)
Soccer wins.
Volleyball, despite the two programs combining for 21 NCAA
titles in their history, hasn’t been good enough the past
three years for me to consider UCLA a volleyball school. The women
have failed to get past the second round of the NCAAs, and the men
had their worst season ever last year.
The men’s tennis team has been strong, but coach Billy
Martin hasn’t been able to win it all. And the women have
been inconsistent, great in between subpar years.
So that leaves soccer, which has the potential to make UCLA
history ““ only twice have the teams of both sexes won
championships in the same school year, and it was volleyball both
times (1983-1984 and 1989-1990).
The women’s soccer team is peaking at the right time,
looking dominant in its NCAA third-round win against No. 13 Kansas
on Sunday. The UCLA defense has shut down the opposition, holding
its opponents scoreless in the postseason, and completely stifling
Kansas’s Caroline Smith, a National Player of the Year
candidate.
Barring a cursed Texas A&M-like loss against Penn State (for
those of you who don’t remember that debacle, Texas A&M
beat UCLA in last year’s NCAA third round, despite being
outshot 21-0), the women’s team would have only one roadblock
left: North Carolina
Yes, the North Carolina women’s soccer team, the same one
that the brilliant (not) Sports Illustrated On Campus called the
greatest college sports dynasty ever.
Should UCLA be worried?
Not overly. Ever heard of the SI jinx?
The men don’t appear to have a major roadblock. They have
only lost one game all season, coming off a championship last year,
and have the best coach in college soccer ““ Tom
Fitzgerald.
A lot has been said about USC’s football coach, Pete
Carroll. He did pretty well in the pros, but not well enough. His
attitude is great for college, and he knows how to get the most of
his athletes.
Well, across town, in the sport the rest of the world calls
football, Fitzgerald is doing the same thing. He lost three players
to Major League Soccer this year, still has the best team in the
country this year, and has recruited an excellent class.
UCLA is a soccer school.
Gilbert is waiting for Dan Evans to be fired so he can apply
for the Dodgers’ GM job. E-mail him at
gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.