Bruins get on track by defeating Huskies
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 4, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior forward Staci
Duncan reverses directions against a Washington player
during Friday’s 1-0 victory.
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis called it her team’s finest
game thus far. Washington head coach Leslie Gallimore called her
team’s performance almost laughable.
So it comes as no surprise that Ellis’ No. 5 Bruins
(15-2-0, 6-1-0 Pac-10) defeated Gallimore’s No. 16 Huskies
1-0 Friday afternoon at Drake Stadium in a game between teams tied
for second place in the Pac-10.
“We played great soccer,” Ellis said. “It was
the best we’ve played in a long time, and it was good because
we kept it up for 90 minutes.”
The only UCLA goal came in the 30th minute, but it wasn’t
off the foot of a Bruin player. Senior Stephanie Rigamat’s
crossing pass didn’t make it to midfielder Breana Boling, but
it did meet with the foot of a Husky defender, who inadvertently
directed it past her goalkeeper Hope Solo.
The Bruins controlled possession throughout the match and rifled
20 shots to just two for the Washington (10-4-1, 4-2-0). UCLA had
even more time than usual to move the ball up through the midfield,
partly because of the Huskies’ loose defensive scheme.
“They gave us a lot of room to play and it allowed us to
turn, face, pass and connect,” Ellis said. “Some teams
will condense the space so much that you have to play quickly.
Today we were able to play quickly but still connect.”
It was essentially a Pac-10 elimination game for the two teams,
who entered the contest a game behind Stanford. Gallimore said the
atmosphere of the match ““ which had an early 2 p.m. start,
because it was televised by Fox Sports Net ““ just
wasn’t conducive to great soccer.
“I don’t think it’s an indicative game of the
Bruins or the Huskies,” she said. “It was a game that
was billed to be a lot better than it was overall. I think our
conference has a lot better soccer to show than we did
today.”
Ellis couldn’t disagree more.
“Hopefully in the future we’ll play like we did
today,” she said. “Maybe her team had an off-day, but
sometimes you have off-days because the other team is
dominating.”
The Bruins had lost two of their last four games in sluggish
fashion and fallen from second to fifth in the latest NSCAA poll.
But they picked the right time to rediscover their high-pressure,
aggressive attack.
UCLA would have faced the prospect of a shared conference title,
but Stanford’s 1-0 overtime loss to Arizona State meant the
Bruins could win the title outright by winning their final three
games.
The Bruins won the first of three Sunday with a 3-1 win over
Washington St (7-8-0, 2-5-0). All three senior forwards scored
first-half goals on a Senior Day that saw nine UCLA players in
their final regular season home match.
Mary-Frances Monroe, Stephanie Rigamat and Staci Duncan all
found the net in the first 19 minutes of the game. Duncan scored on
a breakaway for her 33rd career goal, which pulled her into a tie
for second on the all-time list with former teammate Tracey
Milburn.
The goal was particularly redeeming for Duncan, who had been the
subject of some playful joking about her inability to finish on
breakaways.
“It felt great,” she said. “I’d been a
little frustrated. The goal was great but I’m more focused on
winning the Pac-10.”
Ellis used some not-so-subtle encouragement to motivate her team
for next weekend’s matches in the Bay Area.
“I told them after the match, “˜You need to dream,
eat, smell and think Cal and Stanford,'” she said.
