Women’s soccer gears up for competitive Pac-12 play

The Pac-12 Conference is known to be the most
competitive conference in the country.

Having earned the nickname “Conference of Champions,” every opponent is a tough challenge, and this is why the UCLA women’s soccer team was happy to kick off Pac-12 action with a win over Arizona.

“Our team at times was a little bit disconnected and disorganized (against Arizona), but overall we got the win and we’re happy with it. It’s important to get a win on the road in the Pac-12,” said junior goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland.

Rowland and her teammates understand that there is no vulnerable team in the Pac-12, and that teams can’t afford to showcase any weaknesses during matches.

“(In the) Pac-12 in every game you are going to have a quality opponent (and it’s important to) fix and fine (-tune) … every aspect of our team as a whole (to be ready),” Rowland said.

The “Conference of Champions” seems to be a suitable nickname for the Pac-12. This label is not only pinned on paper – the schools that belong to this conference have won more NCAA championships than schools of any other conference in the country.

The 12 universities in the Pac-12 have a combined 460checked with writer<” class=”inline-comment collapsed”> NCAA championships, and the top three universities with the most national titles belong to the Pac-12: UCLA (109)checked with writer<” class=”inline-comment collapsed”>, Stanford (104) and USC (98).

As all 12 schools have wrapped up their nonconference schedules, marking the second part of the season, their Pac-12 slates are more competitive. checked with writer<” class=”inline-comment collapsed”>Teams are looking for that competitive edge that could determine the outcome of matches in order to peak at the right time for NCAA action in November.

The Bruins seemed to have found the perfect strategy by scoring early in the game, which has been their best weapon thus far in the season.

“I think (scoring early) is because of our team dynamic and how we think, but that’s just our team mentality to get out there and shut (the opponent) down early and try and control the rest of the game,” said sophomore forward Taylor Smith.

Now that the first round of conference matches has concluded, the Bruins are in second place in the Pac-12 standings, just behind Stanford, which is still undefeated.

If the rankings remain the same, these two team will have an opportunity to fight for first place in the Pac-12 in about a week when they meet in Palo Alto.

Although Stanford might seem like a bigger threat for the Bruins, coach Amanda Cromwell echoed Rowland’s words, saying that every team in the Pac-12 is talented.

“I’m used to playing a lot of schools on the East Coast and the Southeast, ACC (and) SEC, so as far as the style of playing, it’s similar … but in the Pac-12 conference, from top to bottom (the teams) are very, very strong so you can’t take any breaks for any of these games,” Cromwell said.