Bruins can’t recover from deficit in final

COLLEGE STATION, Texas “”mdash; As the final seconds ticked off
the clock, junior Stacy Lindstrom covered her face with her jersey
and embraced freshman Kara Lang. Coaches and players consoled their
teammates as they knew UCLA’s dream of a national title came
to an end Sunday 4-0 at the hands of No. 1 Portland.

A crowd of 6,578 braved a cold and windy day that was expected
to be a close and exciting final game that turned out to be
anything but that.

“Obviously it was a difficult day for us,” said
coach Jill Ellis. “(Portland) played a fantastic game, but my
heart and my soul are with my team in trying to console them and to
remind them of the things they’ve done this
season.”

UCLA (22-2-2) was making its third consecutive appearance in the
College Cup, and earned its second straight shot at winning a
national title after falling to Notre Dame last year in penalty
kicks.

But it was quickly apparent that this day would not be the day
for the Bruins. The Pilots pounced early on UCLA, scoring only 92
seconds into the match. The Bruin defense, which had been perfect
through five rounds of play, had a serious miscue and turned the
ball over deep in their own half of the field.

Portland’s Megan Rapinoe gathered the ball and delivered a
perfect pass to Angie Woznuk, who beat Bruin goalkeeper Valerie
Henderson for an early 1-0 lead.

It was the first postseason goal allowed by the Bruins, and only
the ninth on the season.

“They did a great job to capitalize on our mistake,”
Ellis said. “A good team will punish you. That most certainly
put us behind the 8-ball right off the bat.”

Even though the Bruins faced a deficit for the first time in the
playoffs, the Bruin resolve remained steady with the faith that
they could come back.

Sophomore Danesha Adams had a golden opportunity in the 15th
minute to equalize the match at one goal apiece when she received a
pass from senior Iris Mora and had a wide-open goal as
Portland’s goalkeeper Cori Alexander had fallen in an attempt
to snare the ball. Adams could not finish, however, as her shot
sailed just wide left of the net.

Portland continued its attack after Adam’s miscue as
Christine Sinclair, the nation’s leading scorer and
tournament offensive MVP, scored the first of her two goals by
taking a ball from Woznuk and sending it just past the outstretched
arms of Henderson into the Bruin net.

“That first goal didn’t faze me,” said senior
captain Jill Oakes. “Even after the second goal, I was
confident we could (come back); unfortunately we didn’t. We
fought hard. It just came down to inches and those inches
didn’t come out in our favor.”

The third first-half goal by Sinclair, however, seemed to
finally break the Bruins’ back by giving Portland an
insurmountable 3-0 lead going into the break. UCLA had never
allowed three goals in a game this season, let alone faced such a
large deficit at half-time.

The second half proved to be much more challenging even as the
Bruins fought and clawed to get back into the game. But it ended up
being Portland who would extend its lead. Rapinoe took another pass
from Woznuk, stepped inside of Bruin defender Erin Hardy and buried
a shot into the lower right corner for the final tally of the
match.

The four goals were the most scored against a Bruin team since
September 14, 2003 in a game against North Carolina.

“I think that today Portland showed up a little more ready
to take it than us in terms of finishing, and I believe that our
team did absolutely everything that we could on this given
day,” Oakes said.

“We controlled what we could have and you can’t ask
for more than that. I’m really proud of our team for giving
everything we had.”

“I’m not going to cry,” said senior Iris Mora
who, along with Oakes, played her final game as a Bruin.
“I’m happy you know. My teammates have been great.
It’s not all about one game. It’s about my four years
here, so I’m happy that I’m done with the people that I
love, and it’s time to move on.”

The Bruins had faced Portland three previous times, the last
coming in 2001. UCLA had prevailed each time, twice in the NCAA
tournament. This match-up, however, was all Portland.

The Pilots ended the year undefeated at 23-0-2 and become only
the second team ever to win the NCAA Womens’ College Cup
without a loss. Seventeen-time champion North Carolina has
completed the feat 11 times.

Even though the loss still stings, the Bruins are proud of their
incredible season, and know that this isn’t the end of
UCLA.

With only two seniors and four freshmen in Sunday’s
starting lineup, the Bruins are well prepared to make a return
appearance to the College Cup in the future. And after watching
Portland carry off the championship trophy, the Bruins are hungry
for one of their own.

“We feel it,” Henderson said. “We can taste
it. We’re going to get there soon enough.”