The stream apparently wasn't working for like 35 minutes at least for me. I settled for a live audio stream and finally after clicking on the stream link over and over again for 20 minutes, I got it to work in the 39th minute. I missed the first goal which I believe happened during the first 20 minutes of the match. San Diego State did manage to score on us with a nifty long hit and we missed several sitter opportunities that made me facepalm. We cannot be missing so many opportunities to hit it in the back of the net. Also I love how selfless some of the UCLA players are in the box, but for goodness sakes! Just shoot the ball at goal!! Even if it's not the greatest angle. You never know! Passing it to an open player and having said open player take forever to shoot it therefore get attacked by defender is something I've been seeing all season from these Bruins and I'm sorry but they need to take the shot if they get in the box, if they can one time it, even better but apparently college players aren't that skilled at one timing the ball, or at least our roster doesn't really attempt it as much. The bender by Cerda was beautiful BTW.
This game was much closer than the version earlier this year. Ucla went up from a sublime free kick from a Rodriguez midway thru the first. UCSD had a few chances but nothing significant. Second half was a new game. The bruins went up 2-0 when Hernandez struck a header side netting on a great Cerda cross but She went unmarked and finished easily. This is when UCSD Woke up. They started pressuring UCLA and converted from outside the box when the UCSD forward juked mcCoullough and beat her inside to take a shot from 20 yards beating Micah high to her left. Less than 2 minutes later they had almost the identical play but the shot went wide. Cerda closed the deal with the beautiful bender late Great game to watch. (The link on the Pac12 network was bad. I connected off a sdsu tweet and only missed a minute or two
Yeah the way it goes, UCLA will host the next few games because the teams in their section or pod as they call it come to UCLA and play there. I think or hopefully all the games will be streamed. So more then likely if UCLA continues to win, they should host 2 more games.
Pepperdine vs. Virginia and Northwestern vs. UCLA at Drake Stadium. This promises to be a very entertaining soccer weekend in Westwood. They need to bring out the food trucks again. Just hope the Bruin tech people can finally get their streaming act together. Speaking of streaming, Northwestern was almost as bad as Weber State, if that seems possible. Their camera operator kept forgetting the lens could zoom into the action. But one could always see that beautiful field looking out on Lake Michigan.
I didnt have issues with the UCLA stream. I put it up on apple TV then cranked the volume all the way up. Problem came when I switched back to regular TV and blew out my ear drums. The USC feed on the other hand was horrific I was streaming from my phone, got no video and sketchy audio from a guy that couldnt figure out how to describe run of play. How did that work out for the parent of a keeper going into a second overtime period?
There was no video stream for the UCLA game that I could get but got an audio feed by going to the feed for a volleyball(?) game. The only video that's worked on the Pac 12 network site so far for me was USC.
I don't know what to say about this game against Northwestern. UCLA dominated possession. Dominated shot count. Dominated run of play. Yet the Wildcats were able to bunker and bunker all through the game and force it to overtime. Northwestern were never going to threaten UCLA. They didn't have the talent to do so unless there was a HUGE mistake on the Bruins part. Which didn't happen. So for the Wildcats, they wanted to push it to penalty kicks and they almost did it. They just couldn't make it there. UCLA had like 30 shots this game. That is a nutty shot count. Hailie Mace was the most dangerous UCLA player on the field. She had like 5 very good attempts to score. Where she was in the box and if she had a better touch, she would have a goal. She also had a long range shot from outside the box that the Northwestern keeper had to make a good save on. She didn't look good when she was dribbling with the ball. She would constantly lose the ball when she did. But when her team fed her the ball and allowed her to go direct, she was dangerous. I also thought Olivia Athens had a very good game. She was very good on the ball and she was the only one that was trying to create 1-2's with Fleming so she could spring Fleming on the attack. Any other player when they received the ball from Fleming, they would try to dribble forward and not try to combine with Fleming which was disappointing. This game could of easily gone the other way for UCLA even with the domination they showed. For me, I do not see why Fleming is not on the attack more. Last year she had 5 header goals. She scored the golden goal against Penn State. Scored the game tying goal against Stanford and forced overtime which UCLA would lose in the 2nd OT frame. She forced overtime for UCLA in the NCAA tournament against West Virginia with a late header and it went to PK's. She is fantastic in the air yet in this game. UCLA had what 11 or more corner kicks and Fleming doesn't join in on those plays. She plays outside the box and this game never attacked the ball. When you have Fleming's athletic ability to out jump defenders for balls like Fleming does and she doesn't participate in trying to get headers on goal for corner kicks. What the hell is wrong here? And I have a problem with Rodriguez. Because when Rodriguez is on the attack. Fleming sits back and defends. She doesn't expose her team if UCLA players are forward on the attack. Count how many times Fleming was on the attack this game? It wasn't a lot and Rodriguez was constantly pushing up acting like a forward. Fleming is your best player and UCLA isn't using her on the attack is a crime. And this game showed why Fleming has to be on the attack more. Northwestern, who isn't a threat to UCLA, almost forced penalty kicks on the Bruins. Penalty kicks is a crap shoot. You don't want the game decided by PK's. Fleming needs to be an attacker. This game was frustrating to watch.
Wish I could contribute but the stream failed. Frozen screen intermittent audio..what did stand out was the NW GK. Either way the bruins move on. Virginia looks good...should be a great game Sunday. Good luck to all 3 Pac-12 teams left
I just came back from the game. It was definitely a nail bitter for us watching from the stands. We couldn't believe how many opportunities us Bruins had. I almost feared the worst, that it was one of those games where nothing was going in the back of the net. Thankfully 2 minutes into overtime we got our goal and we left shivering in 60 degree weather with cold butts under layer of blankets. UCLA got the job done and that's all that counts at this stage. MOVING ON....
NW parked the bus from the beginning so this was never going to be the most eye pleasing game. That said, UCLA was rather poor finishing IMO and perhaps over passed in the box. It should be more wide open against Virginia. I think the Bruins have the quickness and movement to defeat Virginia but aerial defending will be paramount.
With the UCLA-NU game, for once, had success with the Bruin TV stream. Used the video link from the UCLA women’s tweet at the exact starting time and, as usual, got a “no longer available” message from the Pac-12 app; then closed the app and reopened it and the game was one of the available options, which was a surprise. That said, the video quality, while only interrupted a few seconds, was not even close to any SEC or ACC games via WatchESPN; eventually turned the audio to mute as the announcer endlessly babbled player bio facts gleaned from the UCLA roster profiles... ... dreaded the thought of PKs against a red hot Wildcat keeper and the possibility Cromwell would sub in Ervik for a shootout... ... Fleming played the entirety of this game and the two brutal ones for Team Canada within 8 days. Her fitness and durability has been astonishing... ... Cerda played poorly early on, but in the second half was firing rockets, turned back by the frame and then a circus save... ... was a big fan of Northwestern’s freshman #13 Nia Harris’s speed and quickness. A few seconds after coming in the first half, she got their first shot and changed their play considerably.
UCLA wins 2-1 over the University of Virginia. Annika Rodriguez would again play hero with the last minute goal to win it in regulation. Goals also by Jessie Fleming on a penalty kick and for Virginia. The goal by Virginia was an considered an own goal but I am pretty sure it was off a header but I didn't see a replay of the goal so not so sure about this. UCLA had more of the run of play then the Cavaliers. The Bruins were on the front foot more, combined more with each other and had more of the pressure in the box then the Cavaliers. But the Cavaliers would be the first ones to strike first. I didn't see a replay, but it looked like it came off a Virginia player on a header and it went over Teagan Micah's hands into goal. If there saying it came off a Bruin player, then I am not sure who that is then. About a minute later, the Bruins would get a penalty spot kick when Ashley Sanchez was given a long ball to run onto and she would be a step ahead of her defender. Her defender dragged her down and the spot kick was awarded. I was praying that Fleming was going to get the spot kick because UCLA were 3-6 on penalty kicks this year. a 50% success rate is pretty bad and I wanted Fleming to take it and someone was listening because she did and got the goal out of it. Hailie Mace during that half, had several good looks on goal that if she could of finished better might of scored on one of them. When Mace gets played directly with through balls or balls over the top, she can attack it. She didn't look good combining with her team mates since her foot work would let her down. But here is where my issue with how UCLA plays. Fleming was nearly non existent in the first half on the attack. She was constantly covering for attacking players and playing deeper in her own half. Which I think everyone knows is frustrating as hell to me to watch. You want your best players to attack and be a little selfish. Fleming isn't selfish. But in the second half. Something must of clicked for Fleming. She started attacking more and making a lot of pushes into the Virginia box. Because the second half was different and Fleming was shooting and creating space for players around her. Something I was very happy to see. I don't need to see Fleming score, I want Fleming attacking to create for her team and the second half was much better. Where else Ashley Sanchez may be the better dribbler. what Fleming does is she out thinks her player in front of her and dekes and forces them to commit in directions and then reverses to create space for herself. She was constantly doing that today in the second half. She had the ball a lot more and that was good to see. Very late in the second half, like the 87th minute. Virginia would lose a defender to a red card. Picking up her second yellow of the day. She would trip up Annika Rodriguez and this created a lot of space for UCLA. Space that the Bruins would take advantage off soon after. Ashley Sanchez would force a turn over deep in the Virginia side and then send a through ball to Rodriguez would was wide open in the box and sent a shot that would beat the Virginia keeper for the goal and would end the game. Annika Rodriguez despite my problems with her had another good game for UCLA. My issues aside with her, she plays with her heart out. I just want to see Fleming on the attack more and Rodriguez tends to force Fleming to play safe and that is where my problems with Rodriguez lie. Do you want Rodriguez on the attack or Fleming? So UCLA now make it into the Elite 8. I don't know who they are playing next, I haven't looked yet. But they match last seasons run into the NCAA tournament and that should be congratulated.
UCLA wins 3-1 vs Princeton on goals by Hailie Mace who had 2 of them and Olivia Athens. UCLA would start Hailie Mace and Ashley Sanchez up top. Jessie Fleming, Annika Rodriguez, Olivia Athens and Viviana Villacorta as the holding mid in the midfield with Kaiya McCullough, Karina Rodriguez, Zoey Goralski and McKenzie Cerda in the back line. On the starting line up, I am glad to see Olivia Athens starting to get more starts as she has now been starting regularly in the midfield. Villacorta seems to have solidified herself as the holding midfielder. Is Claire Winter injured? I don't know but the senior midfielder tends to be the starter so Villacorta has started the past few games. So UCLA would host their final home game for the NCAA tournament. If UNC wasn't upset by Princeton one week ago, UCLA would of had to make a travel to North Carolina but with a home crowd and Princeton having to fly 3000 miles or so. This worked into UCLA's advantage in a big way. I would of thought Princeton would of bunkered in against UCLA. Playing 10 players in front of the ball to prevent any attacks up the middle. That didn't happen. Princeton were willing to open it up and try to attack. Which surprised me since most teams who struggle to keep possession against UCLA prefer to allow UCLA to try to break their defense and that tends to be low scoring games that UCLA tend to struggle to score in. Because of that, UCLA were on the front foot all game long and were constantly attacking the box. UCLA would score 2 goals fairly early on. With Hailie Mace scoring off a header and 2 minutes later Olivia Athens would score off a scramble in the box that Rodriguez would send a pass into. Mace would add another goal in the second period off a long ball that should would beat her defender to and go 1v1 against the Princeton keeper and beat her cleanly. UCLA would also have a spot kick right at the 18 yard line and Sanchez, Rodriguez and Fleming were at the spot kick. I really thought Fleming would the one to take the shot since she is very good at those long range shots but Sanchez took it and missed high. On the topic of Hailie Mace. She was very good, very dangerous off directed balls that she could run onto. She actually should of probably scored 2 more goals if we want to be honest. She had 2 other 1v1's the first one was in the first half where she forced the Princeton keeper Natalie Grossie to come off her line and all she had to do was chip her and instead she took a shot and missed wide. Those are actually painful to watch since she is a converted defender so learning how to make touch shots or putting spin on the ball isn't going to be Mace's strength. Her other opportunity was in the second half and another 1v1 where Grossi made a great save on her shot. Annika Rodriguez was very active all game long. She also had 4 1v1 looks on goal. 3 of them she took feeds from Jessie Fleming who either sent lofted passes, through balls or clever passes that could of gotten several assists for Fleming in this game. Grossi made several great saves off Rodriguez to prevent her from scoring. Grossi also made a parry save off Ashley Sanchez, Natalie Grossi despite allowing 3 goals this game. did play very good. She had 10 saves this game even with those goals with several great saves mixed in. I thought Jessie Fleming was spectacular which she normally is at this level but she at certain points would launch attacks into the box, dribble through 2 or 3 Princeton players and then create chances in the box. One time she got into the box and fed Mace the ball and Mace had just Grossi to beat and Grossi managed to scramble and stop the attempt. And through out the game Fleming was making dekes and turn arounds on players trying to mark her. And you could see 2 sometimes 3 Princeton players surrounding her trying to force her to play the ball away. Fleming did have some good chances to score. She hit the post from a 20 yard shot and then nearly had a golazo when she deked a defender and had a clear shot on goal and missed wide. But as I point out previously, Fleming doesn't attack the box like she did this game as much as I would want to see. In fact if you watch Fleming all game. She isn't fighting for corner kicks since we would see McCullough and Karina Rodriguez in the box looking for headers, the center backs for UCLA and where is Fleming? Outside the box defending the counter. She has scored 5 header goals last year, none this year. Its a weapon that UCLA are denying themselves but this is how Fleming plays. She isn't selfish and it irks me a lot. Still UCLA played beautiful football today. There is a worry on my end its Teagan Micah and if Grossi was making these 1v1 saves against Mace or Rodriguez and getting to the ground to stop the balls. That goal scored against Micah was in that same vein. Micah didn't make the stop and to me that is a stoppable ball. Probably the only thing you could question in this game since nearly everything played to how UCLA wanted it to play out. Maybe finish some of those 1v1's that Mace and Rodriguez had. But otherwise its a complete game by the team.
My thing with UCLA and they did a little better with it this time around is when they are in the box, they need to just shoot the damn ball. I feel like they pass it around the box way too much and it's so frustrating to watch because we as fans know these kids can shoot upper 90 if they were confident enough to do it. Their passing game is excellent but I think even with the so so angle and goal scoring percentages, they are capable of making a good shot on goal, and yet it kills us fans in seats when they pass it back and thankfully they still have possession but it becomes this frustrating thing for us.
I thought Fleming was brilliant. Pulling all the strings. CreatSanchez was good. Disruptive and made a terrific defensive play in the box after having tracked back strongly. Anika Rodriguez was presented many opportunities served up on a plate and just can't finish consistently. If Fleming could pass to Fleming she would have had a hattrick in that game. Fleming's comfort on the ball is highly unusual in female players. Her technical ability allows her time and space to apply her super soccer brain to every situation. I picked ucla as the champion because i hope that Fleming's abilities will prompt the USA to develop and select similar players. Their value is tremendous even if they only show a few assists in the stat boxes. We overvalue goal scorers in the country. What Fleming does is create and dictate. She presents the goals to others. The developmental academy system is ridiculous. They only report goals. They don't even report assists. I like that the colleges report the secondary assist in some circumstances but would like to see a system that rewards playmakers more highly. The USA may not think they need playmakers to succeed in the new world, but they are wrong.
Well you’re about to see Flemming and her Canadian teammate (both playing similar positions) battle it out in the semis! They’re both highly intelligent and pull the strings for both their teams. Either way, you’ll be saying “oh Canada” after this one! Lol
Dude already there! Memorized the words. Saw Quinn playing CB for Canada. Settled in with time. I know she's a 6 for Duke. Saw her play for Duke earlier in the year and she was the only player I remember from that game. Absolutely looking forward to the match.
Canada just played a friendly against Norway in Oslo I believe. Happily Canada didn't call up either Jessie Fleming or Rebecca Quinn since in several days time they play against each other. But not having these 2 amazing players on the field really showed against Norway. The midfield struggled and Norway would jump out to a 2-0 lead over Canada. If it wasn't for several really bad turn overs by Norway right outside their box. Canada would be in a lot of trouble. Christine Sinclair and Janine Beckie would both jump on 2 turn overs and both would score off them tying the game up and a good play by Ashley Lawrence to set a counter combining with Meagan Kelly and finally Adrianna Leon would finish. Canada would go on to win 3-2 but its obvious how important these 2 are to Canada from that game. Quinn doesn't always start over Desiree Scott who both play the same spot but I think Quinn is head and shoulders better then Scott and it showed this game.
So let me come straight out and be honest. I had Duke winning this match even though I am a HUGE fan of Jessie Fleming. I thought the experience and the upperclassmen would take the match from the young UCLA team. I was wrong. Happy to say that, but now its onto Stanford. I have both good and frustrated notes about this game. I think people who have followed this thread will understand where I am coming from. UCLA started their now regular roster. Hailie Mace and Ashley Sanchez up top. Jessie Fleming, Annika Rodriguez, Olivia Athens and Viviana Villacorta in the midfield. Kaiya McCullough, Karina Rodriguez, Mackenzie Cerda and Zoey Goralski in the back. Through out much of the game, especially in the first half, UCLA controlled the ball and possessed it for long periods at the time. Linking 10 to 15 passes in a row as they built into the Duke side of the field. Duke in return were playing with 5 players in the back. Julie Foudy was getting more and more agitated seeing Taylor Racioppi play in the 5 back set because Racioppi would have to run 100 yards to join up in any counter. By the second half Racioppi was completely spent and couldn't do much to help Duke in the build up. Duke were keeping Kayla McCoy as the long high forward pinning the 2 defenders of UCLA back. But the rest of the team were playing very compact and were clogging up the middle against UCLA. The Bruins would try and try to penetrate the middle but as I pointed out in the past, they have problems with teams that clog the middle like Duke did today. They simply could break that down because Hailie Mace who would receive a lot of balls up top, could only go direct and not play with her back to goal. You need to create combination plays like 1-2 combos where the player with the ball would feed the forward up high and then the forward playing with her back to goal would force the defender to commit to mark her and then play a one touch pass to the player that sent the ball to her in the first place on the run. You create space and open up room to take shots or actually move into the box. These actions never materialized for UCLA and so they were stuck trying to go direct up the middle or try to beat the defenders on the wings and get crosses in. And Duke in return playing so many people back, waited for turn overs and tried to counter off them by launching long balls to McCoy with the help of Imani Dorsey, were able to get some looks on goal because UCLA would have only 2 defenders defending in the back. In fact Dorsey nearly had a break away but Kaiya McCullough barely was able to knock the ball out in the box. The second half Duke would create more chances as players became more tired, more turn overs from both sides would happen but in the end the game would go into overtime and Duke sat back for the most part. Whether its due to their team having to chase after UCLA all game long, they looked tired out. With no score in overtime, it went to penalty kicks and I think Duke were confident that they had the better keeper and I would say they did. EJ Proctor is a good keeper and her save on Cerda when Cerda fired her shot up the middle, nearly catching Proctor off guard. Proctor was able to lean back and get a hand and stop the shot. Teagan Micah for her part was able to make a very easy save on a poorly taken shot by Kat McDonald that would clinch it when Marley Canales would slot her PK goal in to win the penalty kick shoot out. Over all, UCLA looked dominant on possession but trying to break a team that wants to bunker is going to be questionable since Mace has problems playing with her back to goal. But against Stanford, UCLA won't need to worry about that, Stanford love to play with the ball and won't bunker in. It should be a very back and forth match for the National Championship. Players of the match. Kaiya McCullough. Even though I question her speed because she isn't a fast player. She for the most part kept McCoy in check and stopped the most dangerous chance by Dorsey on her near break away. Zoey Goralski had a great game as well, able to attack and rush back to defend. Jessie Fleming. Was marked by Rebecca Quinn all game long and Fleming won that battle. if UCLA had a forward that could hold up and play with their back to goal, I'm sure Fleming could of combined and set up a goal for UCLA. Fleming was constantly sitting outside the box moving the ball around. She had the ball quite a lot which is good to see.
Oh on the PK's. Coach Cromwell used different people then I was expecting. I though Annika Rodriguez, Jessie Fleming or Ashley Sanchez would of taken the shots but it was given to Zoey Goralski, Mackenzie Cerda, Julia Hernadez, Sunny Dunpy and finally Marley Canales. Maybe the talk about the team coming first and the atmosphere where the team mates have a lot of respect for each other was evident here.
Great analysis. UCLA deserved to win. I have not seen UCLA games to much this year. I always watched the highlights. I expected more combinations. Mace is not technically gifted and had problems to operate in tight spaces. AR would die first before she would pass. But still the team played a very effective soccer. They are well coatched. If they get a center forward to play combinations 1-2 next year they might win the CC. From Duke McCoy was very impressive. However the whole team was rather inferior to UCLA.