Team soars above Flyers to win

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior Breana
Boling jostles for position against a Dayton Flyer in
UCLA’s 3-1 victory on Sunday. UCLA 3 Dayton 1

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff

Sure, the action on the field in UCLA’s 3-1 win Sunday
over Dayton in the third round of the NCAA women’s soccer
playoffs was telling.

But one needed only to look at the two benches during an
afternoon of complete Bruin control to get the gist of the story.
While reserves from the Flyers (17-6) stood up for a good part of
the 90 minutes of action, the casually confident Bruins (20-2) sat
with their legs crossed.

UCLA had been here. Dayton hadn’t.

It showed.

Despite a 15-game winning streak and an Atlantic 10 Conference
title, Dayton allowed an experienced and self-assured UCLA team
gaps of space and managed only one shot, which came in the 43rd
minute.

“We did have a lot of room,” UCLA head coach Jillian
Ellis said. “We were able to knock the ball around and
possess. We got a lot of chances but we didn’t convert. We
should have closed the game in the first half.”

Luckily for the Flyers, UCLA scored only once in the first half,
despite 13 shots on goal. Senior forward Mary-Frances Monroe used
her left foot to redirect a Sarah-Gayle Swanson crossing pass past
goalkeeper Stephanie Weisenfeld in the ninth minute.

The Flyers remained standing. The Bruins stood, cheered and sat
back down.

Dayton head coach Mike Tucker said that he made no specific
halftime adjustments, but the Flyers began to challenge Bruin
midfield passes and possess more than they had in the first
half.

“We showed too much respect for them in the first
half,” he said. “When you give too much room, you get
yourself into a hole. We let the game come to us too
much.”

The Flyers’ venerable second half effort lasted about 25
minutes and came too late. In the 71st minute, UCLA senior
midfielder Breana Boling calmly controlled a ball in the box, and
instead of passing out of panic, fired a shot from 10 yards out
that tucked into the left side of the net for a 2-0 Bruin lead.

Dayton sat down. The Bruins stood, cheered and sat back
down.

The Flyers’ charge was over.

“They gave me a lot of space,” Boling said.
“Nobody was stepping in, so I cut in and shot.”

Things may have transpired differently had the match not been
rained out on Saturday. Dayton was prepared to play on a Drake
Stadium field that was so inundated it might have neutralized
UCLA’s speed.

“I know they (Dayton) were disappointed, but it was a good
decision.” Ellis said. “It wouldn’t have been
soccer, it would have been a rugby scrum.”

The Flyers broke through in the 90th minute with a Megan
McKnight free kick that bounced off the crossbar and past a diving
CiCi Peterson. But just as the Flyers stood up once again, Bruin
senior Stephanie Rigamat took a pass from reserve midfielder Emily
Ernsdorf and slid it in for the third UCLA goal of the
afternoon.

The Bruins stood up once again, but this time it was for good.
Time expired 14 seconds later, sending UCLA to the quarterfinals
for a 1 p.m. match next Sunday against Florida at Drake.