Soccer seniors leave squad in grand fashion

Monday, October 26, 1998

Soccer seniors leave squad in grand fashion

WRAP: Weekend sweep of Oregon schools marks players’ final
matches

By A. CinQue Carter

Daily Bruin Contributor

On Sunday afternoon at the North Athletic Field, UCLA bid
farewell to its three senior members of the women’s soccer
team.

In the Bruins’ final regular season home game, midfielder Louise
Lieberman and forwards Larisa Kiremidjian and Liz Willemse
celebrated Senior Day after four years of being integral parts of
UCLA’s success.

The Bruins (15-2-1, 5-1-0 Pac-10), in turn, paid tribute to the
departing players by producing a weekend sweep of Oregon State and
Oregon.

"It felt really good to win big," expressed Lieberman, with
Willemse and Kiremidjian agreeing.

In unison, they added, "It feels good to end on a game like this
(with a blowout).

"It’s a little sad, though. We’ve been together for so long, and
now it’s over."

Fortunately for the team and the fans, it’s not necessarily
over. If the Bruins win the Pac-10 for the second consecutive
season, it would ensure the Bruins a berth in the NCAA tournament,
and continued success in conference play would make UCLA strong
contenders for hosting tournament games.

Along those lines, the Bruins handled their business this
weekend in preparation for reaching their goal of a Final Four
appearance.

Yesterday’s 4-1 victory over the Beavers (5-9-1, 0-5) included a
tie for UCLA’s third-highest offensive output of the season. An
earlier contest against the University of Hawaii also produced four
goals.

Just 17:17 into the game sophomore midfielder Venus James took a
Staci Duncan pass and dribbled around the left of the Beaver
defender. Amazingly, the right-footed James shot the ball with her
left foot past sophomore keeper Elizabeth Pease for an early 1-0
lead.

"I wasn’t really thinking about scoring," James said of her
first goal. "I was just trying to play and help my team."

The Bruins would hold that lead for a mere 18:40 and then look
to James for more assistance.

At the 35:57 mark, OSU leading scorer senior Lindy Brown handled
an excellent cross from senior Jona Maukonen and kicked it into the
left corner of the net for a 1-1 tie.

"It was a great cross," Brown said of the assist setting up her
goal. "I only had a split second (once I received the ball). So I
just turned and shot it and it went in.

"All in all we gave the Bruins a tough game and that’s what we
wanted to do. (James) was great for them, though."

Shortly after the Brown goal, James went to work another time
and gave the Bruins another lead.

Freshman midfielder Breana Boling led a pass to Venus James in
front of the net. James responded in a timely manner by kicking the
ball beyond Pease’s reach once again.

Forty-four seconds later, Kiremidjian recorded her second
consecutive goal-scoring game.

Sophomore midfielder Sommer Hammoud brought the ball up on the
left side of the field and crossed it to freshman midfielder Bree
Edwards. Edwards then craftily passed the ball to Kiremidjian, who
nailed it through the net for a 3-1 lead.

At that point, UCLA seemed content to go into the locker room
with a 3-1 lead, but it was not done yet.

Just 10 seconds before time expired, the Bruins were awarded a
direct kick. Lieberman, who was waiting for the Bruins to get in
place, was warned by the crowd that time was winding down.

As they shouted, "Shoot it, shoot it," Lieberman positioned the
ball and fired away. To everyone’s amazement, Lieberman’s kick
wound up being a masterful assist to James.

Having already scored two goals, James knew just what to do with
it. The leading career scorer on the Bruins’ active roster once
again smashed the ball past Pease for the hat trick and a 4-1
halftime lead.

"It’s great," head coach Todd Saldaña said of the Bruins
5-1 conference record. "We’ve built our confidence back up (with
the victories).

"This is also exciting for the seniors. We discussed how they
would want to remember their last Bruin home games, and they pretty
much wanted it to be like this."

Each of the seniors played in parts of the first half and most
of the second. With their contributions, the Bruins were able to
continue what they started against Oregon two nights earlier.

"They wanted to be able to reflect on this (final game) in ten
years," Saldaña added, "and say that their last game was a
blowout.

"(Also), we’re pleased that we’re winning because the conference
is still wide open."

On Friday evening at Spaulding Field the Bruins completely
overmatched hapless Oregon. UCLA totally controlled the flow of the
game and limited the Ducks (4-8-2, 1-4) to a mere three shots on
goal. The 2-0 victory registered the first Bruin shutout in two
weeks.

With both teams going scoreless in the first half, sophomore
forward Tracey Milburn erased any doubt of the Bruins earning their
second consecutive Pac-10 victory by getting on the board in the
49th minute. Milburn, scoring in her sixth consecutive game, took a
pass from freshman forward Staci Duncan and punched it through the
net for a 1-0 Bruin lead.

In recent games, a 1-0 lead early in the game would have made
the Bruins complacent. On Friday, however, UCLA kept the ball on
the Ducks’ side of the field, rarely giving their opponents a
scoring opportunity.

With Lindsay Culp in the net for the Bruins, the team recorded a
Bruin-best 10th season shutout. Culp also broke her personal season
record for shutouts with 9.5.

"It’s really important to get this shutout to get our confidence
back," Culp said. "It was good to avoid another defensive letdown
late in the game."

"We controlled the ball most of the night, and that was the key
to the defense."

Freshman Krista Boling was assigned to guard the Ducks’ leading
scorer Chalise Baysa. Boling held Baysa scoreless, turning in
another stellar defensive performance.

"We tried not to allow (Baysa) to produce any offensive output,"
Boling stated. "Our defense did a good job of shutting (the Ducks)
down.

"The defense helped keep the game on our offensive half. And
when they did get the ball on our side they didn’t get a shot
off."

Baysa, who entered the game 11th in the conference in scoring,
conceded that the Bruins did a superb job on her squad.

"They did a really good job of shutting us down and knocking the
ball down," Baysa said.

Sophomore Karissa Hampton and junior Skylar Little did their
parts as well. As defenders, they kept the Ducks on their heels
throughout.

With the two wins this weekend, the Bruins defense has now
limited all opponents to two goals or less.

Also, UCLA has held teams to one goal or less in 16 of their 18
contests.

"We needed to get back on our defense," assistant coach Lisa
Shattuck said of the Bruin unit that has allowed only 10 goals this
season. "We were able to shut them (Oregon and Oregon State)
down.

"We had lost a little confidence after the Berkeley game. And
then Stanford wasn’t really a clean win.

"But this puts us back on track. We have to come back and play
just as hard against (the rest of our opponents)."

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]