Bruins’ promising season ends abruptly
By Daily Bruin Staff
Dec. 5, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 CLAIRE ZUGMEYER Freshman forward Kendal
Billingsley is one of the many bright spots for a team
that came ever so close to returning to the Final Four.
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
A season that began with newfound respect and championship
aspirations ended prematurely, inexplicably, in a quarterfinal
double-overtime loss.
Plenty happened to the UCLA women’s soccer team (20-3)
between a resounding 1-0 season-opening win over Portland and its
1-0 loss to Florida in the final minute of the second overtime in
Dec. 2’s quarterfinal at Drake Stadium, however.
During the 21 games in between, the Bruins won sole possession
of the Pac-10 title for the first time since 1997 and extended a
home unbeaten streak to 26 games. Their 20 victories were a school
record.
But that one loss ““ that one instant when Monica Hayles
deflected a seemingly harmless shot off of UCLA’s Nandi Pryce
and into the net ““ that’s what may stick with this team
for some time.
The quarterfinals might have been just fine with any other Bruin
team, but UCLA’s improbable run to the national championship
game in the 2000 season brought with it heightened
expectations.
“We talked about it all year, our goal was the national
championship, and we fell short,” head coach Jillian Ellis
said after the loss to Florida.
But in many crucial ways, and despite the undesired end result,
the 2001 season only served to solidify the foundation Ellis began
to lay when she arrived at UCLA in 1999.
The season-opening win against Portland showed the rest of the
college soccer community that UCLA’s 2000 run was no
fluke.
“We’re, as our coach says, being hunted,”
junior midfielder Tracey Winzen said. “We’re not the
hunters anymore and we have to bring out our game against every
team because everybody’s looking to beat us.”
UCLA began to command respect from opposing defenses, which were
forced to bunker down in an attempt to slow an attack that rifled
470 shots.
Ellis and her Bruins began to see that facing conservative
defenses was the price of their own success. Then, after 11
straight wins, the high-flying Bruins were grounded by Santa Clara,
historically the West Coast’s premiere women’s soccer
school. The damage count was an embarrassing 3-0.
The Bruins refused to keel over like pretenders to the throne.
They rattled off nine wins in their next ten games, including a
spirited 1-0 win at Stanford to clinch the sole possession of the
Pac-10 title and three dominant performances in the NCAA playoffs.
All the pieces were in place for a return trip to the Final
Four.
“We’ve seen teams like that, but not that deep or
not that good,” said Pepperdine head coach Tim Ward after a
second-round loss to the Bruins. “Sometimes teams have one or
two good players, but not all 11 like UCLA.”
But that’s where the story ends. The loss to Florida last
Sunday erased what could have been a UCLA-Santa Clara rematch in
the semifinals. Like they did against every team this season but
one, UCLA outshot the Gators. None of the 28 shots found its way
into the net, however.
The Bruins send nine key seniors off on their respective paths
but will benefit from a bevy of talent and experience in 2002. Once
again, they will be among the favorites to show up at the Final
Four ““ the place they intended to be this weekend if not for
an unfortunate detour from Florida.
