Kelly isn't on the team this year for some reason...I'll try to find out why. I wondered about that myself but just haven't asked about it. As for Jessica Stamp, she's now an undergraduate assistant coach, so she's still involved with the team.
DId Stamp have a career ending injury? I just remember her being a great youth player and then lost track of her at UCLA. It seems she never got going there.
I'm not sure on that one. I know she had to redshirt her freshman season in 2000 because of an ACL injury. And last year in the games that she played in, she sported a nice big knee brace. My guess is that her knee had something to do with her being on the coaching staff rather than on the playing field this season.
One of the people in my group had a rally monkey at the football game (actually there were a few others around--pretty funny), and we were listening to the baseball game on the radio. The atmosphere in the UCLA section was a bit somber by the end of the games. At least the Angels came back in game two. GO HALOS! I haven't been this excited about Angels baseball since '86! Didya have to remind me? It'll be interesting to see what the new AD ultimately decides to do about Bob Toledo...and Steve Lavin...and Kathy Olivier... At least the coaching staff of the women's soccer team is not something we need to worry about. I personally think Jill is an excellent coach (astute soccer mind, great teacher) and she has picked her assistants wisely. The team is very young--they'll be finishing more of those chances next year. The good news is that they are generating that many chances to begin with! It's only a matter of time before more start going in! (As a CyberRays fan I have a strange sense of deja vu about saying that...I'm hoping it's actually true this time!) I might take you up on that. I'm going to see if I can scrape up a local copy first. I think one of my soccer-addicted friends may have taped it, but I haven't had a chance to ask her yet. Me, too! The upcoming USC game is a big one for the Bruins. While I mostly don't care about regular season results so long as my team goes to the playoffs (I don't care who wins of loses any particular game), I always care about the results of any UCLA/USC game. The Bruins must win! It is a moral imperative!
I was only five during that season so I didn't know a thing about Angels baseball, or baseball at all. I was eight when I first played softball, and soon I liked watching baseball and started following the Angels (then known as the California Angels). The players on the team at the time were people like Jim Abbott, Bryan Harvey, Wally Joyner, Mark Langston, Kirk McCaskill, and so on. I root for pretty much all of the teams that are in SoCal (I don't really see why you have to be either a Dodgers fan or an Angels fan, a Clippers fan or a Lakers fan, etc), but between the Dodgers and the Angels, if I were forced to pick, then I'd go with the latter. It's because Edison Field (aka the Big A) is only a 15-minute drive from my hometown, so growing up it was easier to go see them play. I hope the Angels can win two more games. I wasn't interested in baseball yet when the Dodgers won in '88, so I didn't appreciate what that meant to Southern CA. But now that I'm older, I can experience and relish the excitement of what it's like to have your team play in the World Series. And she has great rapports with all of her players, as do all of her assistants--Lisa Shattuck (for the four seasons she was at UCLA), Kat Mertz, and Michelle French. Jill is definitely a players' coach, and as long as she's around, the Bruins will always be a top contender. I'll only worry about UCLA's finishing if it is a problem in the postseason. Because that's when they have to put away more scoring chances. I'm still deciding whether or not to go to this weekend's match at USC. If it weren't midterm time, then I'd go for sure. Either way, you're right--it's a moral imperative for UCLA to win. If you need a copy of the UCLA-Stanford game, just let me know.
Kendal Billingsley was selected to Soccer America's Team of the Week. Kendal is a left back like Amy Fazio, so as long as she plays well, Amy will probably continue to come off the bench.
But young at heart, right? Of course not...Michelle French must have something to do with that. Amy confers with Michelle often, whether it's before she's about to enter a match or after she comes out of a match. Between Kendal and Amy, I'd start Amy at left back. It's her natural position, and one that she's very good at. Kendal started playing there this season, and while she's proven that she's quite capable of starting and playing at left back, I have a bias towards Amy. I'm sure the bias comes as no surprise after all the praise I've given her since the season began.
Bruins vs. USC The Bruins beat crosstown rival USC, 2-0, yesterday afternoon. Goals were scored by Crystal James (the first of her college career) and Stacy Lindstrom (her fourth of the season). Jill Oakes assisted on the first, and Amy Fazio assisted on the second. Box Score USC was outshot, 26-6. Go Bruins and Go Angels!! The World Series MVP was a former Bruin. Although at UCLA, Troy played shortstop, not 3rd base.
SoCal Blues Here's an article from last week in the Orange County Register about the Bruins' ties to the SoCal Blues, arguably the top soccer club in OC, and in Southern CA overall. Blues period changes UCLA The influx of players from Orange County's powerhouse club team has helped boost the Bruins to No. 7 in the nation.
Bruins vs. Oregon & Oregon State UCLA swept the Oregon schools this weekend. On Friday night the Bruins shutout Oregon, 2-0, and today they beat OSU, 4-1. Lindsay Greco had a good weekend, finishing with two goals and an assist, and Katie Rivera had a goal and an assist on Friday night. Lindsay and Katie now share the team lead in points with 16. Oregon Box Score OSU Box Score
No. 4 Bruins Head to Washington The last time they were in Seattle (2000 season) wasn't so successful--they lost 1-0 in OT to UW despite outshooting the Huskies by a large margin (25-3 to be exact).
Bruins vs. Washington schools UCLA closed out the regular season with 2-1 wins over Washington and Washington State this weekend. Sarah-Gayle Swanson returned to the lineup on Friday night after having missed the last three weeks because of an ankle injury she suffered against Stanford. She had a goal in each of the two games, including what turned out to be the game-winning goal against UW. Now the Bruins will wait to see what the NCAA tournament selections and seedings will be.
Congratulations to UCLA on a strong finish. UCLA will be ranked no lower than a 4th seed, and will play host next weekend. If you run the table, you'll be home the next three weeks, before heading to Austin. The other great thing is that Pepperdine won the WCC. That means they'll play host next weekend, I think, to several strong opponents that could have gone to UCLA's bracket. Pepperdine's bracket will probably include USC, ASU, &/or San Diego. UCLA will get an easier bracket, probably including Loyola Marymount, CSU Fullerton, &/or ASU. Please send a thank-you basket to the folks in Malibu.
I'll hang on to the basket until I see how the brackets look tomorrow. A top four finish is definitely great because it means that you get to stay at home until it's time to go to the Final Four, should you win out. But after last year, I don't feel as comfortable/secure with that idea. Florida came to Westwood for the quarterfinals and upset UCLA in double OT in a game that the Bruins dominated. That was a sad day. Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine, and USC were in UCLA's bracket for last year's first and second round games at UCLA. If Pepperdine hosts, then USC will probably be in Malibu...for a change of scenery if nothing else. The Trojans lost to UCLA in the second round two years ago, and last season they lost to Pepperdine in the first round (at UCLA). If the NCAA is nice, then they'll put USC where they aren't anywhere near the Bruins.
As good a season UCLA had so far this year, next year will even be better. In 2003, UCLA are the team to beat in the Pac10, and possibly in the country.
Too true! Of course I believe we're going to win it all this year, so next year we'll be going for back-to-back championships. I'm glad to hear about the two wins this weekend and even more glad that Swanson is back in the mix as strong as she is. 2 game winners in one weekend? That's coming back bigtime! Our left backs keep contributing offensively (Billingsly with the assist on Swanny's game winner vs. Washington) as well as playing solid D. It makes me happy. (I'm so easily amused!) Congrats to 'Bardo on her academic honors. On a side note...the UCLA men didn't fare too badly against Stanford, did they, cachundo? On another side note, I thought Iris Mora's hit on LeBlanc in the Mexico/Canada game was a thing of beauty. LeBlanc got away with what has appropriately been described as a kickboxing move on Dominguez earlier in the game (that was a yellow card at LEAST, but not to call a foul at all was terrible), and while I don't normally think it's OK for the players to start beating on each other, I thought Mora's shot on LeBlanc sent an appropriate message to Canada: you can't just kick us around anymore and expect us to take it. I was really hoping Mexico would advance in that game, so I'll be cheering for them to beat the 3rd place Asian team and make the draw for WWC '03! I hope Iris's back feels better soon. Bulging disks suck.
UCLA's portion of the bracket for the first two rounds: 1st round 1 UCLA vs. LMU 2 San Diego vs. USC 3 Texas vs. Southern Methodist 4 Northwestern State vs. Texas A&M 2nd round UCLA vs. winner of 2 winner of 3 vs. winner of 4 3rd round UCLA vs. winner of 3 vs. 4 In the quarterfinals they'd face the winner of the UNC (seeded #2 overall) bracket. UGH!!! I'm assuming 3rd round and quarterfinal games will be at UNC? (I keep getting confused by this ever since they expanded the bracket--you'd think I'd figure it out by now) I can probably figure out how to cut/paste the whole bracket--I'm not doing anything else useful at work today. What else do you want to know, Chiefs?
Ask and you shall receive Better yet: Can you see that one? It's not showing up very clear for me here at work. The original picture was clearer. The link to that is here: http://www.ncaachampionships.com/images/d1_wsoc_bracket_2002.gif