UCLA women’s soccer continues win streak, beats Cal Bears 1-0
Senior forward Lauren Cheney plays during Friday’s game against Cal. Cheney assisted Sydney Leroux in the match’s only goal during UCLA’s 1-0 victory in Berkeley.
By Rebecca Lee
Oct. 16, 2009 8:31 p.m.
BERKELEY – In a physical match against California, the scoreboard remained scoreless until a little over 13 minutes remaining in the match.
Sophomore Sydney Leroux was not to be denied when she received a long pass from senior forward Lauren Cheney and raced ahead of a California defender. Leroux faced the Bears’ goalkeeper Gina Pellegrini one-on-one and fired a shot from inside 18 yards that put UCLA up 1-0.
The third-ranked Bruins (12-1-1, 3-0 Pac-10) hung on to defeat the No. 17 Golden Bears (8-4-1, 2-1-0 Pac-10), 1-0 today, extending their win streak to 12.
With the goal, Leroux scores her team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Coach Jill Ellis said that Leroux’s pace was “frightening” and “shockingly fast” and credited Cheney, who has been working on the timing and executing of the final pass, for the assist.
“(Cheney)’s getting better and better at (the final pass),” Ellis said. “The vision was perfect and the pass was well-delivered and the finish was amazing.”
Redshirt sophomore Chante’ Sandiford records her sixth shutout of the season with three saves in today’s game. Pellegrini also registered three saves in the match.
UCLA outshot California 10-9, but the Bears held a 4-3 advantage on cornerkicks.
The Bruins contained the Bears’ star forward Alex Morgan, who registered six shots in the match. With just under four minutes left in regulation, Morgan struck a ball into the net that sent the California crowd cheering, but the goal did not count because of offsides.
“Our backline is getting better at stepping and dropping, and I thought I saw the (referee’s) flag go up right as (Morgan) took the shot,” Ellis said. “Alex Morgan, she’s a tremendous player. She’s going to get chances on the end. I thought we actually did quite a good job limiting her wide-open looks. I think she had to work pretty hard at her shots, as did we.”
The physical match saw nine fouls from UCLA and 11 from California. Yellow cards were also given to Cheney in the 63rd minute and to California sophomore defender Danielle Brunache in the 54th.
“We kind of knew, going in, they’re a very athletic team, very much like ourselves,” Ellis said. “¦ We’re having to bring it. We’re playing on the road at their home field. The physical side of the game, mentally we had to be prepared.”
The Bruins take on first-ranked undefeated Stanford when they head to Palo Alto on Sunday.
“Mentally we just have to recover a little bit, physically recover,” Ellis said. “The motivation is going to be there playing the No. 1 team in the country.”
