Team heads to Clemson for rematch showdown

  EDWARD LIN Forward Stephanie Rigamat
uses her head in the third round of the NCAA tournament Sunday.
UCLA takes on Clemson this weekend. WOMEN’S SOCCER
vs. UCLA vs. No. 3 Clemson Saturday 1:00p.m. Riggs Field at
Clemson, South Carolina

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Contributor

Carolina, here they come, right back where they started
from.

The No. 10 and sixth-seeded UCLA women’s soccer team packs
up and heads to the eastern seaboard to take on the Clemson Tigers
at 4 p.m. Saturday at Historic Briggs Field in the quarterfinals of
the NCAA Tournament.

The contest is a rematch of both team’s season opener, a
game that saw the Tigers weather a scare from the upstart Bruins
but hold on for a 1-0 victory on their home turf. Clemson freshman
Lindsay Brown scored a goal in the 36th minute and the Tigers won
their first game in the Clemson/Nike Kickoff Classic despite being
outshot 15-7 by the Bruins.

“I think especially the first game of the season, being a
freshman and even for some of the upper-class players, playing the
No. 2 ranked team is kind of intimidating,” senior forward
Tracey Milburn said of the season-opening loss. “It took the
first half to get acclimated with the situation, and it gave us
confidence that we were hanging with them.”

After having the luxury of hosting their first two playoff games
in Westwood, South Carolina will certainly be unfriendly territory
for the Bruins. But UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis likes her
team’s familiarity with the conditions of play.

“I felt good about that in the sense that we’ve been
there, we know their field and we know their crowd,” she
said. “It’s not going into uncharted
territory.”

The Bruins finished a second consecutive season undefeated at
home with a 4-0 drubbing of No. 9 Texas A&M last weekend at
Drake Stadium. The win legitimized UCLA’s place among the
upper echelon of programs and advanced the Bruins to their second
quarterfinal in team history.

Clemson garnered the No. 3 seed for the tournament and defeated
local foes Duke and Florida State to set up the rematch. The Tigers
rank below the Bruins in nearly every NCAA statistical category and
defeated common opponent Florida by three fewer goals that the
Bruins, but Ellis credits Clemson with tremendous offensive
firepower.

“Clemson has two forwards who are extremely good and one
of them, Deliah Arrington, has tremendous pace, so she’s kind
of a breakaway goal scorer and she’s got (Bruin midfielder)
Venus James-type speed,” Ellis said. “Their other
forward, Lindsay Brown, she’s a freshman who’s been
scoring a lot of goals for them.”

The story of the Bruins’ rise to national prominence this
season has been the exemplary performance of a stalwart defensive.
UCLA shut out 14 of its 21 opponents this season and goalkeeper
junior CiCi Peterson ranks second nationally in goals-against
average, allowing just seven goals in 21 games.

“I think our back line has been playing well,” Ellis
said. “I honestly think we’re going to have to score
more than one goal to win because both teams have a kind of
high-powered offense.”

Should the Bruins score multiple goals in the game, they may
score the single-most important goal they’ve had all season:
a trip to the Final Four and the College Cup in San Jose.