W. soccer: Women’s soccer wipes out Oregon State and Oregon

Going into the opening weekend of Pac-10 play, the UCLA
women’s soccer team had been afflicted by numerous injuries
and was hoping for a couple of easy games to boost its
confidence.

Enter hapless Oregon and Oregon State.

Neither the Ducks nor the Beavers, two teams that the No. 8
Bruins have traditionally dominated, presented much of a challenge.
UCLA thrashed both teams by scores of 6-0 and 4-1 respectively.

In Sunday’s game against Oregon (3-8-1, 0-2-0 Pac-10), the
Ducks’ poor defense allowed senior defender Kendal
Billingsley to score a hat trick. Her goal off a penalty kick
proved to be the most difficult of the three.

“Defenders don’t usually push up that often but it
was a nice change,” Billingsley said. “It was fun. I
didn’t really expect to score a hat trick.”

Billingsley’s other two goals came on balls inside the
six-yard box, illustrating the struggles Oregon defenders faced in
guarding their opponents.

The Ducks were several steps slower than UCLA’s attackers,
as forwards Bristyn Davis and Danesha Adams consistently blew past
the defense with ease.

However, the Bruins’ coaches and players did not stress
the results against a weak team so much as the sense of confidence
gained from two easy wins while fielding a weakened lineup.

“We have a lot of people playing out of position. We have
forwards playing defense, forwards playing midfield,”
Billingsley said. “The Oregon schools aren’t great and
it helps our team recover.”

“It was a nice confidence boost for the team,”
Billingsley added.

“The forwards got to put some balls in the back of the net
and the defenders got a boost from not giving up
anything.”

Davis, who scored two goals this weekend, noted that despite the
Ducks’ inadequacies, it was still important to execute.

“Oregon was an easy team, but that doesn’t mean we
did not have to work hard against them and play together,”
Davis said.

Coach Jill Ellis specifically told her team, which was missing
three starters due to injury, to score early against the Ducks and
allow the starters to rest.

“I told the starters before the game, put it away early so
we can get everybody in,” Ellis said.

Friday’s game against Oregon State was surprisingly close
until UCLA pulled away late.

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but the Beavers tied
it up early in the second half via a penalty kick.

But on the foggy night, UCLA erased any doubt of the outcome by
scoring nine minutes later and not yielding another goal to the
Beavers’ offense.

The victory against Oregon State was the 100th win for Ellis in
her tenure as UCLA’s coach.

Despite the easy weekend, all was not perfect for the Bruins.
Sophomore defender Mary Castelanelli, who missed the last month of
last season due to two stress fractures in her back, re-aggravated
her back when it stiffened during Friday’s game.