Moving On
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 31, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Tracy Arkenberg
By Michelle Coppolella
Daily Bruin Reporter
In sports, they tell you it really doesn’t matter if you
win or lose, as long as you go out there and give it your all.
That’s all good and well for Little League and AYSO
soccer, but when you step into the big leagues, it’s simple
— results matter, and they matter a lot. You want to be able to
hold up that trophy or wear that ring, proud to know that your name
will go down in the record books as a winner at least once.
But when your name goes in record books 13 times, you’re
not only a winner ““ you’re a person who’s changed
the sport’s history forever.
Former UCLA women’s soccer forward Traci Arkenberg did
just that for UCLA, dominating UCLA’s offensive game from
1994-97.
Not only is Arkenberg the all-time UCLA leader in points, goals,
game-winning goals, game-winning assists and shots, but in her
senior year alone she was the UCLA Offensive MVP, UCLA Female
Athlete of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year, Soccer News’
All-Far West Player of the Year, Soccer Buzz’s West Region
Offensive Player of the Year, and First-Team All-American.
“My first team All-American honor has to be the most
meaningful because it’s so hard to come by,” she said
in a phone interview. “They can never take that away. A
scoring title they can, but this they can’t.”
 Todd Warshaw/Allsport Former Bruin Tracy
Arkenberg now plays for the San Diego Spirit. Arkenberg
has undoubtedly made her mark on UCLA and she now hopes to make it
in the Women’s United Soccer Association. In 2000, Arkenberg
was selected in the seventh round, 50th overall of the WUSA draft
and is now a starting forward for the San Diego Spirit at 25 years
of age.
“Right now I’m exactly where I want to be,”
she said. “The league we have now is so outstanding that the
fact that I’m playing in the WUSA is such an
accomplishment.”
Currently the third highest point scorer for the Spirit,
Arkenberg proves she is a valuable asset to the squad. Before
becoming a member of the Spirit, she played for Ajax of Southern
California in the Women’s Premier Soccer League for three
years, where she was awarded MVP of the WPSL in 1999 and was the
top scorer of the league with six goals and two assists.
Arkenberg credits UCLA with her success in both the WUSA and the
WPSL.
“I couldn’t have gotten here without UCLA, the
support of the athletic department, the great coaching by (former
Head Coach) Joy (Fawcett), and the team that surrounded me were all
incredible.”
Arkenberg said that her best soccer moment was beating USC 3-2
for the 1996 Pac-10 title. What she modestly forgot to mention was
that she scored the winning goal in that game to clinch the victory
for UCLA.
“That was the first time women’s soccer really got
recognition in Southern California,” she said. “We had
over 2,000 people at that game and to play in front of the crowd at
home against a school we hate so much made it amazing. I’ll
never forget it.”
Neither UCLA nor its record books will ever be able to forget
Arkenberg. Even today she continues to have ties to her alma mater.
Not only does her sister Lindsay attend UCLA, but Arkenberg trains
here for the off-season and regularly attends women’s soccer
games.
“It’s great to see that the West Coast got on the
map and that UCLA is now a powerhouse in women’s
soccer,” she said.
The saying “those who can’t do, teach” clearly
doesn’t apply to Arkenberg, who can “school”
players both on and off the field. For the past three years,
Arkenberg has been the head coach of the Palos Verdes Breakers, an
under-12 girls soccer team.
Arkenberg received a sociology degree at UCLA, and she hopes to
one day expand her teaching skills to the classroom as a second or
third grade teacher.
Soccer has not only served as a means to play and coach — it
also has enabled her to meet her future husband. While at UCLA,
Arkenberg routinely traveled to Santa Monica High School to coach
the varsity girls soccer team. Her husband, Frank Gatell, was the
varsity boys soccer coach and a Spanish teacher there. The two met
on the field, adding a romantic twinge to her fairy tale
career.
Within the next three or four years, Arkenberg hopes to start a
family and eventually be the mother of two or three children.
Understanding that doing so will ultimately interfere with soccer,
Arkenberg was quick to note that being a mom doesn’t mean the
end of her career.
“Women have children and then make it back to the
sport,” she said. “Believe me, I’m looking
forward to being a mother — but I don’t plan on quitting
soccer anytime soon.”
