Bruins vs. BYU UCLA defeated BYU 6-0 at Drake yesterday. Kim Devine scored two goals against her former team and the other goal scorers were Amy Fazio (her first career goal for the Bruins), Iris Mora, Kendal Billingsley, and Vicki Bloom. The win was a complete team effort--everyone contributed in some way. These were the best 90 minutes from UCLA in a long time. In the past they've played well in spurts--for a half, for 20 minutes, etc--but this was a solid win from start to finish. I was very happy to see Amy score a goal and assist on Kim's first goal, which also happened to be the first goal of the game. Amy is a player on the team who I really want to see do well and be successful. Box Score Saturday afternoon is the exhibition game against the Mexican NT. Drake Stadium at 2pm.
Amy Fazio, etc. I'm always happy to see those flank defenders get involved with the attack successfully! I hope Amy has another good game today. The Bruins should need all their firepower against the veteran Mexican side! I guess we'll see soon enough where Iris Mora plays! Sounds like it's already happening! I'm a bit biased towards French, but even trying to be objective I can't think of anyone that could be any better for Amy to learn from! In the few games I've seen this season, Cat Lee has seemed reluctant to make the run up the right side, so a lot of the attack looked to be coming from the left side. That should only help accelerate Fazio's improvement (though I'm sure the Bruins would like to be able to run the attack out of the back from the right as well).
Re: Amy Fazio, etc. It's always a plus to have good flank defenders. Amy Fazio and Kat Lee are both that for UCLA. Kat has been so important to the defense ever since she stepped onto the field as a freshman, and off the top of my head I can think of many times when she saved the team by coming up with huge plays. Kat was the team's Defensive MVP last year--an honor voted on by teammates--and I think that says a lot considering that the defense included Bethany Bogart and Krista Boling (two then-seniors), and not to mention Nandi Pryce. Anyway, the Bruin defense will always be great as long as Michelle French is around. Lisa Shattuck helped build the defense into what it is today and it was definitely disappointing to see her move on to a different career, but when someone like Michelle comes in, there's no way you can complain. Everyone loves her.
Bruins vs. Mexican NT I didn't go to the game, but it looks like it was a good one. UCLA won, 2-1. All of the goal scorers were Bruins, except Iris was wearing a Mexican NT jersey. Whitney Jones scored the first UCLA goal (assist by Stacy Lindstrom) and Stacy scored the game-winner (assists by Jill Oakes and Nandi Pryce). Box Score The Bruins outshot the Mexican NT, 13-3.
UCLA vs. Mexico What? You didn't feel like sitting in the rain to watch the game? Well, some other "stars" were out despite the bad weather. Venus James was there to cheer on the Bruins, and Lindsay Stoecker was there (presumably to cheer for Freedom teammate Monica Gerardo with the Mexican side). Fans for Mexico far outnumbered the Bruin fans, but there were less than 500 fans in attendance anyway. It was a good game, though sloppy at times (I'll blame the weather). It was more lopsided in UCLA's favor than the 13-3 shot differential might indicate. Mexico had a difficult time keeping the ball out of their defensive half of the field as the Bruins put the pressure on and kept it on! I'm not sure that we got the entire "real" Mexican team, however, as no CyberRays players were to be seen anywhere on the field--Quinones, Eagleson, and Nanez were missing from the Mexican side (I'm not sure if they are still with the team, but they should be--Nanez in particular would have been valuable!), and the UCLA bench was French-less. Still, it was a reasonably impressive and dominant outing for the Bruins, who have every reason to feel good about the result of this one. Iris did indeed play the whole game for Mexico and was one of two bright spots for them (Monica Gonzales of the Boston Breakers on defense was the other). She is absolutely explosive, isn't she? She has an amazingly quick first step that put her past the Bruin defense time after time. The Bruins did a nice job of covering her in most cases, but she still managed break loose on occasion. She is fun to watch! For UCLA Kat Lee was indeed a strong defensive presence. Again, she looked a bit shaky about making the run to join the attack, but she is quite confident making tough defensive plays in back. She was the one who predominantly kept Iris in check. Very solid game in slippery conditions where it's easy to make a mistake. Fazio had a nice game defensively as well, and made some very good runs offensively. She had a couple of sweet crosses and long balls that were very dangerous--unfortunately for UCLA the Mexican 'keeper was on her toes for those! I certainly do not recall Fazio playing like that last year (well, or playing much at all I guess it's more fair to day), so I'm excited about seeing how she continues to develop as a player. Katie Rivera, still wearing her mask, played reasonably few minutes but still looked great while she was out on the field. I'm sure the mask is hampering her field vision (that's got to be tough!), but it's not affecting her feet. She had one spectacular play where she juked 5 different Mexican defenders and had just about worked herself free until Monica Gonzales stepped in and showed why she is such a good player, stopping Katie and stripping her of the ball. Still, it was an impressive display of skill from Rivera that was stopped only by Gonzalez's impressive display of skill. I was thrilled that Whit Jones got a goal. I like her because she plays simply, efficiently, and effectively in terms of controlling the pace of the game and distributing the ball. She had a couple of other dangerous shots besides the one that went in, all from being positioned in the right place at the right time. Part of that's good coaching, and part of it is a good soccer brain in Whit's head. Other quick notes: Stacy Lindstrom obviously had a very good game, but I wasn't specifically watching her so I don't have any particular details to share. Sarah-Gayle Swanson seemed to be playing forward in place of Mora was wasn't quite as effective in this game as I've seen her when she's predominantly in the midfield.
Re: UCLA vs. Mexico Okay, rain will be my excuse for not going. I knew overall it was a cloudy day in Southern CA but I actually didn't know it rained in LA. School started last week so I'm in San Diego, which means that I'm going to be more selective about what games I'll be attending. I know--that's not being very loyal but it does become sort of a pain to drive back and forth. Last season I put lots of miles on my car driving up from SD for almost all the home games at Drake. When I'm at home in LA, it's about a 35-40 minute drive (without traffic) to UCLA whereas here it's a two hour drive to UCLA. The Santa Clara, Cal and Stanford games are trips I'll be making...I wouldn't want to miss those! I'm glad there is someone else besides me who thinks Amy is a talent. I've always had a lot of confidence in her ability, even when she was a freshman. She got a lot of minutes and started a handful of games at the beginning of last season when Nandi was still not quite ready to return from her broken leg. When she did come back, Amy's playing time sort of decreased but I knew that when Bethany and Krista graduated, Amy would step in and make an impact. The starting defense that I was predicting for this season was a three-back with left-footed Amy at left back, Nandi at center back, and Kat Lee at right back. I was a little off because I wasn't expecting Tracey Winzen (formerly a d-mid) and Kendal Billingsley (formerly a flank mid) to be converted to defenders this year. Like last season, Jill Ellis has a lot of different options for the defense, whether she uses a three-back or a four-back. I just hope there's a regular starting spot for Amy back there. Yeah, Whitney's not a flashy type of player but she's fundamentally sound and is good at what she's supposed to do. Her height makes her a great target for the Stacy Lindstrom throw-ins that I mentioned in an earlier post. Reading the box score, that's probably what happened on Whitney's goal--a long throw-in from Stacy found Whitney's head. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game. I wonder where all of the regular Mexican NT members were. The game probably would have been a lot different had more of them been available to play. Still, the UCLA win has got to be something to feel good about.
Bruins to Host Defending National Champion Santa Clara With Aly being away with the National Team, I'm not as excited about seeing this Friday's match. It would be nice to see a matchup in which both teams have all of their regulars and key players available.
actually, during the wnt game broadcast yesterday i think they said that wagner would be returning to action for santa clara this weekend...but i wasn't totally clear as to whether that was for the game against ucla or for their game on sunday. so there's a chance she'll be there.
Bruins vs. Santa Clara At least there is one thing that I can look back on last night and feel good about--the size of the crowd (and also the Angels rallying back to beat the Yankees. [sorry, I had to get that in here] I had the baseball game recording at home and even though I already know the result, it's a great game to have on tape anyway). Anyway, a lot of people came out for the soccer game and it made for a very nice atmosphere. I would say that the first game at Drake under lights (they were just installed this season) was a success with regards to making the game at a more convenient time and consequently allowing more people to attend. Several Bruin alumnae were at the game, some for the first time this season since playing on the team last year. But on to the game. It was not exactly the Bruins' best performance of the year--passes weren't as crisp/accurate as usual, possession was subpar, and the offensive attack never really got going--but, as Jill said, I'll take the loss against Santa Clara if it means success in the postseason. The fact that--aside from Iris--none of the forwards were able to get a shot off in the whole game says something about the Bruin attack being off. Katie Rivera came off the bench and did well to hold the ball but the offense as a whole just wasn't clicking last night. Allie True was probably the best sub the Bruins had. Her one shot could have put them up 2-1 but at the angle she was at, it was difficult for her to get off a better shot. The one she did get off was a dangerous one though. UCLA might have escaped with a 1-0 had Sarah Lombardo held on to Devvyn Hawkins' shot. It was a hard shot, but Bardo will be the first to say that she should have saved that one. But it is by no means her fault that the Bruins didn't win this game. The ball was coming above her head and she had her hands up to grab the ball, which she did, but it just slipped through. Kudos to the Broncos for getting this win without Aly's contribution for pretty much all of the game. UCLA is still winless in four tries against Santa Clara. I don't really know what else to say about the game except that the Bruins didn't play like their No. 3 ranking should say. No. 11 Santa Clara Upsets No. 3 UCLA, 2-1 Box Score More Northern CA opponents next weekend as Cal and Stanford come to town to begin Pac-10 play.
Losing to SCU bites! I put an SCU-heavy $0.02 up this morning over here. Like BruinSpirit, "I don't really know what else to say about the game except that the Bruins didn't play like their No. 3 ranking should say." I agree with Jillian Ellis's assessment of this game--the Bruins looked young and rushed. I also agree with the sentiment that who cares what happens now if it means we win in December? The Bruins are a very young team and they're going to have a bit of a bumpy ride at times (much like Santa Clara is this season with only 2 more upperclassmen on the roster than UCLA). Like I said in my other post, I think Iris Mora and Whit Jones were our two most consistant bright spots. I agree with BruinSpirit's comment that Allie True was probably the best sub the Bruins had. Tough break for 'Bardo on that goal--I never want to blame a goalkeeper for much of anything but she did have her hands right on the ball. She looked pretty down after the game and probably feels a lot of responsibility for the loss. Nevertheless, the Bruins could have helped her out with some more offense. It's not fair to expect your 'keeper and defense to be perfect and keep a shutout intact against a team as powerful as SCU (or against anyone, really). On a side note, I have to admit I was looking forward to a mini-showdown between Jess Ballweg and Amy Fazio on the wing which didn't materialize. Both of them normally get involved a lot more in their team's respective offenses than they did last night, and one of my favorite subplots in any game is when the outside backs duel a bit ("anything you can do I can do better", anyone?). It really doesn't happen that often, but I'm always hopeful!
Re: Losing to SCU bites! Exactly. Non-conference and regular season games are supposed to be used as measuring sticks to see where your team is and what you need to work on. Jill says that all the time. If you get it done in the postseason, then that’s really all that’s important. In 2000 when the Bruins made it to the NCAA championship, they didn’t even win the Pac-10 title, or even finish second for that matter. Washington won the conference title and Cal was the runner-up. Also, the team that the Bruins beat to get to the Final Four was Clemson (on Clemson’s home field), who they had lost to 1-0 in their season opener. Conference play should be good competition to get the girls ready for the postseason and put them in battle mode. They are a young team that needs a little more time to get where they want to be. Amy had about as good of a game as was possible. Late in the regulation period before she was subbed out for Kendal Billingsley, she had a very dangerous cross but no one was able to put it away and the Santa Clara defense cleared it. By the way, what exactly happened on the golden goal? Was it a breakdown in the Bruin defense, or a great Bronco attack? I was a little distracted because I was talking to a few of the old Bruins and their parents so I missed the sequence that led to the goal. All I saw was the ball going into the net. Finally, you're right about Kristi Candau's thoughts on the game. She was being very generous saying that UCLA was awesome. The Bruins were far from awesome.
Bruins vs. LMU The Bruins got a 3-2 win over Loyola Marymount this afternoon. Allie True was credited with the assist on Sarah-Gayle Swanson's goal and scored the game-winner in the 84th minute. Box Score For those who won't be able to go to the match but want to see the UCLA-Stanford game on Sunday, it will be aired on Thursday, October 17 at 12:00pm Pacific on Fox Sports West. If you're outside of Southern CA, then the only way you'd get this game is if you have the sports package for DirecTV, or I guess any other satellite provider.
Bruins vs. Cal & Stanford The Bruins won on Friday night against Cal, 1-0, but lost today to Stanford, 1-0. Box score for the Cal game Box score for the Stanford game I'll add my thoughts on the Stanford game late tonight, or tomorrow morning. Remember that the UCLA-Stanford game is being aired in Southern Cal on Thursday at noon on Fox Sports West. And finally, GO ANGELS!
Bruins vs. Stanford It's not uncommon for me to be irked by the referee's calls in a game, but yesterday was the most I've been annoyed and upset in a long time. He called fouls against UCLA that were ticky-tack, which would've been okay with me had he done the same thing with Stanford. Stanford had some calls that didn't go their way too, but the calls and non-calls the ref was making seemed to hurt the Bruins more. I know the UCLA coaching staff was not happy with the way the game was called. It's unfortunate that it had to take a hand injury to Jill Oakes well into the second half for the ref to finally start being a little more consistent. She was taken down in front of the Stanford bench and fell on her hand. No call. While the trainers took her to the bench to get looked at and taped up, Jill Ellis let the ref know how she felt. If you were on the Bruin side, the referee's calls were very frustrating all game. Anyway, in this game, I knew that any mistake either team made would prove to be costly and that turned out to be true. Tracey Winzen made an uncharacteristic mental mistake, and it was what led to Stanford's goal. She was alone in the back and attempted to clear the ball to the right side but ended up kicking grass. That opened the door for the Stanford player who was running on. She was going to breakaway towards the UCLA goal so Tracey had to recover quickly and just ended up fouling her outside the box. On the free kick, Callie Withers hit a perfect shot into the net. I don't think she could've placed it any better. Both of UCLA's shots in the first half were golden opportunities to equalize. Lindsay Greco had one chance and Iris Mora had the other. Lindsay had a 1v1 with Nicole Barnhart but kicked the ball right at her. She probably had a little more time than she thought to get off a better shot. The first half wasn't too eventful other than the Stanford goal. In the second half, Stanford could have gone up 2-0 on a corner kick, with multiple Stanford players getting good shots off. Sarah Lombardo came out and stopped a shot but it rebounded back to Stanford and then Nandi Pryce saved another shot off the line, and then finally another shot went over the top I think. It all happened so fast. The Bruins had a very good second half. Possession was good (I thought overall UCLA had the better of possession in the game) and they did an admirable job of creating scoring opportunities. Katie Rivera really stood out in this game. Even in the smallest of spaces she finds room to maneuver. In the game recap at the UCLA site, it mentions how she dribbled through the entire Cardinal defense, and it was pretty amazing the way she did that. She got all the way up to the keeper to get a 1v1 but she opted for a low shot to the right corner and missed wide. Even though she didn't score, it was pretty impressive. Whitney Jones had a very good game. With only minutes remaining she was inches from tying up the game. UCLA had a free kick right outside the box. Whitney took it and was so close. It was a hard line drive to the far post and it hit the side post and bounced to Nandi who unleashed a point blank shot that Nicole Barnhart stopped. Barnhart had a great game in goal for Stanford. It's too bad the Bruins didn't play the way they did in the second half the entire game. For those who will be able to watch the game when it airs on Fox Sports, it would be great to hear any other opinions on the game. On an injury note, Sarah-Gayle Swanson went down early and didn't come back. Jill Oakes re-entered after getting her hand taped up.
Bruins vs. Arizona The Bruins beat Arizona 1-0 last night in Tucson. Jill Oakes scored on a PK after Allie True was taken down in the box. Box Score UCLA outshot the Wildcats, 25-2. With that many chances, the Bruins should have won the game by more than one goal.
Bruins vs. ASU As runbabyrun mentioned above, the Bruins beat ASU 3-0 yesterday in Tempe. UCLA got three second half goals from Kendal Billingsley, Michelle Mangiardi (her first collegiate goal), and Stacy Lindstrom. Box Score Iris Mora and Sarah-Gayle Swanson did not play in either of the Arizona games. Iris is helping the Mexican NT for their World Cup qualifying games and will miss the next few games as well. And as I noted earlier, SGS was injured in the first half of the Stanford game and will be out for probably another two weeks. She has a high ankle sprain and a small fracture on the inside of her ankle. She is very important to the UCLA team in so many ways, so here's to a healthy and speedy recovery for her.
Re: Bruins vs. Arizona They must have been taking lessons from their football team. I went to the UCLA/Cal football game this past Saturday, and at one point the Bruins had first and goal on the 3 yard line...and couldn't convert. A belated thanks for the detailed recap of the Stanford game. I was going to tape it, but I'm a big bozo and I forgot, so the recap will have to make do since I never got to see the game!
Since the Angels-Giants game was on at the same time, it was flip to the UCLA-Cal game only during commercial breaks. It was nothing new for the UCLA football team. Consistency has always been a problem for them, and I never get my hopes up because they've teased their fans more often than not. Example: when Cade McNown was a senior in '98, the undefeated Bruins were one win away from a probable berth in the BCS championship game, but they choked and lost to Miami in their regular season finale. Then there was last season when UCLA started off 6-0 and had people talking about a national championship, but then lost four straight in the midst of the DeShaun Foster debacle. That's just the way it goes. Anyway, now back to the real topic... I've got it on tape if you want a copy. It was a pretty good game. I'd love to see a rematch with Stanford (and Santa Clara) somewhere down the line in the postseason. The archived match broadcast of the UCLA-Stanford game can be found here. Kelly Durbin (a freshman on last year's UCLA team) provided color commentary. I listened to bits of the game the other day to see how she did for her first time, and I thought she did a great job--provided good analyses and opinions, and also reacted as any UCLA fan would when the Bruins had those close chances. If they have anymore match broadcasts during the postseason, I think I'd go with Kelly instead of Tracey Milburn to do color.