Hopes for title dashed yet again
Bruin senior forward Lauren Cheney reacts to UCLA’s NCAA semifinal loss to Stanford on Friday. Cheney reached four College Cups but never won a title.
By Min Kang
Dec. 6, 2009 11:00 p.m.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas “”mdash; It was a scene all too familiar.
Hunched over on her hands and knees in front of the post, UCLA’s Chante’ Sandiford couldn’t bear to get back up as a group of Stanford players stormed the field to congratulate Christen Press.
Seconds earlier, Press, a Cardinal forward, had stopped on a dime and fired the ball past a diving Sandiford and into the back of the net, abruptly drawing the curtains over UCLA’s season.
There was no doubt in coach Jillian Ellis’ mind that the Bruins gave a valiant effort against the reigning Pac-10 champions, countering the Cardinal shot for shot and willing the match into overtime.
“I told my team to step off the field with their heads held high,” Ellis said. “I thought we played exceptionally well. It’s unfortunate it has to end. I know I don’t have any regrets with this team coming off the field and the way we played the game.”
On the other hand, the overtime loss on Friday marked the seventh consecutive time UCLA has advanced to the College Cup only to have its trip cut short of a national championship.
In fact, in its 17-year history, the women’s soccer team has made eight Final Four appearances, all without a single title to show for it.
But given the roller coaster nature of the 2009 campaign, it has been surprising that the team has even made it this far.
“At the beginning I wasn’t sure of this team’s potential,” Ellis said. “But my confidence in them has grown through the performances I’ve seen this year.
The Bruins certainly gave reasons for doubt in their season opener with a throttling 7-2 loss on the road to defending champion North Carolina. Their next match ended with a disappointing 1-1 draw against San Diego to put the Bruins’ record at 0-1-1.
The Bruins responded, getting a 12-match winning streak to get back on track. However, in the middle of that spurt, the team lost senior forward and team captain Kara Lang for the rest of the season after she suffered a torn ACL.
More bad news plagued the team when seniors Kristina Larsen and Lauren Wilmoth were each issued a three-game suspension on Nov. 23 for violating team policies.
But once again, the Bruins rallied together, finishing off the regular season with a stellar 17-2-1 record before blasting their way through a postseason stretch marred only by Friday’s elimination loss.
Results aside, players and coaches alike echoed an appreciation for the privilege to go through the ups and downs in one another’s company.
“Maybe in years past, (losing) leaves a bit of a bitter taste, but this team has been phenomenally special to me,” Ellis said. “No regrets.”
“The journey has been super fun with this team,” junior defender Lauren Barnes added. “We came in having lost a lot of big players the year before, so there were big roles to fill, and we did that. I think our team came together at the end and did really well.”
For senior forward Lauren Cheney, her career has come full circle. Having entered UCLA as a highly touted freshman from Indiana, she leaves having broken records left and right and having led her team to countless wins throughout her four years in Westwood.
But what she hopes to leave behind is a legacy beyond just the numbers and stats.
“It’s obviously an honor to have broken records at UCLA,” Cheney said. “But I hope that I leave a mark other than just broken records and Final Four appearances, and I think that everyone on our team were really special girls.”
NATIONAL CHAMPION CROWNED: Coming off a fresh win against UCLA, Stanford returned to Aggie Soccer Stadium on Sunday hoping to complete a perfect season with another victory in the final round of the College Cup.
But defending champion North Carolina stood in its way, and all the Tar Heels needed was an early goal from junior forward Jessica McDonald in the third minute to edge the Cardinal 1-0 and clinch their 21st national championship.
“I can’t express properly how good I feel … and how proud I am of this group,” Tar Heel coach Anson Dorrance said. “There’s a certain nostalgia. A lot of these kids here came in as freshman and had a remarkable freshman year, and for them to finish off in this fashion I couldn’t be prouder.”
