UCLA means business in NCAA match vs. Trojans

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Contributor

Business started Oct. 8 but was never finished. At Drake Stadium
on Saturday, the UCLA women’s soccer team has a chance to
take care of unfinished business when it takes on USC in the second
round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins (15-3-1, 6-2-1 Pac-10) earned the No. 6 seed in the
tournament, their highest in team history. With a home game against
the Trojans (14-5-2, 5-3-1 Pac-10), they hope to avenge a
heartbreaking 1-1 tie with their cross-town rivals a month ago.

Bruin players said the game felt more like a loss after they
battled for 120 minutes and had more offensive opportunities, but
the game still ended in a deadlock.

“I think that was one of our worst games we played this
year,” said forward Tracey Milburn. “I know that
they’re going to want to beat us because they have something
to prove too, but I feel like we’re going to be
ready.”

Southern Cal disposed of the University of San Diego Wednesday
at the Coliseum by a count of 2-1 in the first round of the
tournament.

As a heated elimination playoff match between bitter rivals,
nothing is certain for Saturday’s game, except for
UCLA’s home field advantage. In the last two years UCLA has
racked up a home unbeaten streak of 14 games and hasn’t lost
a match in Westwood since November of 1998, outscoring opponents
28-2 this season.

UCLA coach Jillian Ellis likes her team’s chances on its
home turf, but is hesitant to rile her team for revenge against its
rival.

“I don’t think it was too important who the opponent
was,” she said. “Obviously there’s a tremendous
rivalry between us. I told the players we have to be businesslike
out there and get the job done.”

Besides being a faster, wider-open playing surface, Drake
Stadium’s crowd should help ease butterflies in the stomachs
of Bruin players, young and old.

“I think playing at home gives us a psychological
advantage. It adds a lot, more to freshmen maybe because
they’re not as nervous. People in the crowd who say stuff are
for us,” Milburn said.

Milburn has excelled both at home and on the road all season.
The senior was named Pac-10 Player of the Year Tuesday.

“It says a lot for our program and where we are in
development,” Ellis said of Milburn’s accolade.
“It’s a great accomplishment for Tracey. She’d be
the first to say that she’d have been hard pressed to win
this award without the rest of this team.”

Milburn registered 29 points with 12 goals and five assists and
ranks second all-time at UCLA with 78 career points, despite
playing for only three seasons after transferring.

Other UCLA players receiving conference accolades were defenders
Karissa Hampton and Krista Boling, who made the All-Pac-10 first
team. Midfielder Breana Boling made the second team, and goalie
CiCi Peterson was an honorable mention.

The distribution of outstanding players from the goal to the
front line is encouraging to Ellis.

“I feel really good about how we’re starting to play
as a team,” Ellis said. “We’re starting to gel at
the right time and I feel we have as good a shot as
anyone.”