Squad overpowers its opponents in NCAAs

  NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior forward Staci
Duncan dribbles the ball past a persistent Cal State
Fullerton defender in UCLA’s 3-0 victory on Friday.

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA women’s soccer team just had too much going for
it to lose a game this weekend.

Too much speed, too much size, too much depth, too much
intensity ““ too much for opposing coaches to say.

The third-seeded Bruins (19-2-0) used their natural advantages
to defeat Cal State Fullerton 3-0 and Pepperdine 2-1 in the first
and second rounds of the NCAA playoffs at Drake Stadium.

“We’ve seen teams like that, but not that deep or
not that good,” Pepperdine head coach Tim Ward said.
“Sometimes teams have one or two good players, but not all 11
like UCLA.”

The Titans (13-7-0) and Waves (12-5-3) were game for the first
45 minutes and matched every Bruin scoring opportunity. But
UCLA’s physical superiority took over in the second half when
Fullerton and Pepperdine were tugging at their shorts in disbelief
at the Bruins’ bottomless stamina.

UCLA d. Fullerton 3-0 UCLA d.
Pepperdine 2-1

Too much.

“Eventually, the pressure kind of gave in,” UCLA
head coach Jillian Ellis said after Sunday’s second-round win
over the Waves. “I felt if we played a little better, we
could get results in the second half.”

In Friday’s first-round match, the Bruins went into
halftime in a scoreless tie but had already begun to settle into
their possession game at the end of the half.

Senior forward Staci Duncan has had a hand in nearly every big
Bruin goal down the stretch, and the Fullerton game was no
different. Duncan received a through ball outside the box from
Mary-Frances Monroe and headed it over Laura Janke, the onrushing
goalkeeper.

Twenty minutes later, UCLA defender Krista Boling brought down
Fullerton forward Kellie Cox on a breakaway and was ejected with a
red card. The Bruins had to play the remainder of the game 10-on-11
““ an obvious advantage for Fullerton, right?

Not quite. After losing its senior co-captain, the Bruins scored
on two Tracey Winzen free kicks to put the match away at 3-0.

Too much.

“They wore us down a bit, even when they got down to 10
players,” Titan head coach Ali Khosroshahin said. “We
were tired and you could see it.”

Pepperdine also played the Bruins close and had better scoring
opportunities than UCLA in the first half. But the Waves managed
only one shot in a second half where 50/50 balls turned into 90/10
balls in favor of UCLA, which had to play without Boling.

Sophomore midfielder Whitney Jones broke a 1-1 tie two and a
half minutes into the second half with a redirection of defender
Bethany Bogart’s free kick that beat Wave goalie Lindsey
Brouillette.

Pepperdine beat USC to advance to the second round and felt it
had a legitimate shot, had it stayed in its game plan in the second
half. Head coach Ward searched for the one or two things that made
them fall out of it. He couldn’t ““ there was just too
much.

“¢bull; “¢bull; “¢bull;

The Bruins advance to the third round against surprising Dayton,
which knocked off Miami (Ohio) to set up the match Saturday at 1
p.m. at Drake.