LOS ANGELES — UCLA’s leap to the top of college polls, overtaking No. 1 State of North Carolina and No. 2 Duke University, will make headlines in the months approaching March.
However, this column shows that the Bruins However Went cross-country, looking for trouble against some of the toughest opponents across the country, and regained confidence- and credibility-boosting wins.
So, no, we’re not talking about UCLA football, a relatively low-risk and rewarding home game that started at Bowling Green last week and continues with Saturday’s game against Alabama State. We are preparing for the Pac-12 play with a reduced preseason schedule. .
It was one of UCLA’s other football The team, the UCLA women’s soccer team, upset the top two teams in the country last weekend. United soccer coaches vote.
If you’re a fan of Angel City FC or LAFC, it might be worth keeping an eye on UCLA, currently the best women’s college team in the country. Or if you have kids who play soccer who can learn from disciplined defense and patient strikers. If you like to win
First-year head coach Marguerite Aozasa has been sprinting since taking over in December, replacing Amanda Cromwell, who quit as coach of Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Aozasa was on Stanford’s coaching staff as the Cardinals won the NCAA championships in 2017 and 2019 and swept all Pac-12 titles between 2015 and 2019. She grew up in Mountain View and before joining the staff at Stanford University, she was a four-year starter at Santa She Clara College from 2008 until 2011. She thought LA was flashier and more intense than the Bay Area, but she’s happy to discover that her preconceived notions were a misunderstanding.
She lives near the beach and is close enough to work so she can stay on public roads and avoid Highway 405. She didn’t have to deal with a waiting list to attend an early morning yoga class – unthinkable in the North! And all that Southern California talent surrounding her? is accelerating.
We have Lauren Brzykcy from San Clemente. Overwhelming power to pierce the goalmade nine saves against Duke.
Aliso Viejo’s Raylyn Turner is the junior forward who scored the game-winners against Duke and North Carolina. And Lexie Wright, his sophomore at Carlsbad, snatched his two tars from Cleat in a 1–1 draw, making him his heel at UNC for the first time since 2014 to a non-conference opponent. set the loss of
San Clemente’s Madeline Deciano is a sixth-year defender who tends to appreciate the moment in a way that resonates with her teammates after three knee surgeries. Also, Glendora’s Ally Lemos, a sensible freshman midfielder over 18, is one of his two Bruins to have played in every game so far, and on Sunday he We will be in the game against Cal State Fullerton.
In all, the ensemble’s 16 members hail from Southern California, many of whom have known each other since they were seven or eight years old and figured out how well they could do.
The Bruins are currently putting together what it takes to win a national title. This is something only her other UCLA women’s soccer team has.
*record scratch*
wait, really?
Cody Lavlucsey’s left-footed golden goal in the 2013 NCAA Championship game that gave the Bruins their first title in women’s soccer.
#UCLA100: @UCLAWSoccer won its first NCAA championship in 2013, defeating Florida State University 1-0 with a Cody Lavraski golden goal.
For more 100th anniversary moments, click here. https://t.co/rgArXT9rxW#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/O9BqG9MhMo
— UCLA Athletics (@UCLAAthletics) December 6, 2019
I remember it because it’s Lavrsky One of the coolest high school athletes I’ve coveredYucaipa’s talent that I wanted to pay admission to see.
I look away from that glorious moment in 2013, and UCLA’s women’s soccer program, with its sun-kissed SoCal skills and 11 NCAA semifinal appearances, has made more than one college-wide tally ever since. I thought I would have contributed to the national championship of. 119.
“Yeah, one,” Turner confirmed, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“We’ve got one – one!” Lemos, a freshman, said he realized that fact only recently when comparing his team’s training tops to the boys’ training tops.
“That’s why I came here,” Deciano said. “His other two schools gave him higher scholarships, but he told his parents, ‘I want to win the national championship.
“And we underperformed at the national level,” Deciano added. “It’s frustrating because you have the talent and the work ethic, but we’re missing the last piece. You just have the talent and ‘UCLA women’s football,’ you just have a name.” So far only. And then comes the will to win, which we missed. “
Aozasa may have been added. Fresh enthusiasm and killer tactical instincts.
In the end, she beat out UNC’s 44-year head coach, Anson Dolans, whose team has won 23 national championships, with just four games as head coach on Sunday.
Aozasa had the Bruins begin practice in a 3-5-2 formation the day before UCLA faced Duke on September 1. Use this formation to play against both strong hosts. Chance and your own spark.
She trusted her players to capitalize and she trusted herself to make the calls. Her players trusted her too – and that was before everything went according to plan.
After five matches, she made them believe she could win the second-place title. “In your sprint, when everyone is swooning on the field, that’s certainly what you’re aiming for…and I think we can be great. Win a national championship.” You can even
That’s why Aozasa came to LA to follow the Hollywood ending.
“When I got the job here, the expectation at UCLA was, across all sports, to win national championships,” she said. “We knew we had to prove ourselves throughout the season. We had to prove a little bit to ourselves as well as the whole country. And this weekend it was big.”
🎥 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟑 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩
Last week I felt at home in North Carolina. #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/8aidaeAnmQ
— UCLA Women’s Soccer (@UCLAWSoccer) September 7, 2022
All credit to the team – discipline, hard work and trust. Now we keep doing it! https://t.co/JcqyeHZEgZ
— Marguerite Aozasa (@margaozasa) September 6, 2022