Women’s soccer looks for wins in second, third conference games after Cal loss

No team has ever lost two of its first three conference games and gone on to win the Pac-12.

No. 16 UCLA women’s soccer (6-2-1, 0-1-0 Pac-12) will play road games against Arizona (6-2-0, 0-1-0) on Thursday and Arizona State (6-2-2, 0-0-1) on Sunday, at risk of falling to 0-2 in conference for the second straight year after losing to California 2-1 on Friday.

“The focus (this week) has been coming together as a team and refocusing on what we have to do,” said senior defender Sunny Dunphy. “Just making sure we do the steps we need to reach our goal.”

Last year, UCLA started its conference slate 0-2 for the first time in program history, losing its first Pac-12 opener since 2004. The Bruins went on to win nine straight conference games to close out the 2018 season, but those two earlier losses kept UCLA from overtaking Stanford in the standings.

According to junior defender Lucy Parker, both games this weekend are now must-win.

“This weekend is so important,” Parker said. “We need both wins. Obviously, we didn’t open Pac-12 how we wanted to. These next two games are pretty important for building momentum for the rest of the season.”

Like UCLA, Arizona lost its first conference game at home Friday, falling 2-1 in double overtime to Colorado. The Wildcats have taken the second-fewest shots among Pac-12 teams but lead the conference in shooting percentage, including five goals on 19 shots from forward Brooke Wilson.

Meanwhile, Arizona State has just one win in its last five games after a five-game win streak to start the season, most recently tying 2-2 with Utah in its Pac-12 opener. The Sun Devils have allowed the second-most goals in the conference but have also scored the second most, led by eight goals from forward Nicole Douglas, the second-leading scorer in the Pac-12.

“Both teams are very different,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “Arizona is a little bit more direct – they try to be more disruptive. Arizona State tries to possess a little more. They’re both very good teams having good years so we have to prepare well.”

Historically, UCLA has gone 22-1-1 against Arizona and has not lost any of its last 18 matchups with Arizona State. However, the Bruins had lost to the Bears once in their previous 14 tries before Friday’s match.

Against the Bears, the Bruins took 17 shot attempts but only one ball found the back of the net on a penalty kick. Overall, UCLA has the third-fewest goals in the Pac-12 and the second-lowest shooting percentage.

“We’ve created a lot of opportunities,” Cromwell said. “Sometimes we have to hit blind passes knowing that people are there, even if we don’t see them. We just need to be more mindful of those situations, where we’re getting numbers in the box.”

The Bruins also took a season-high 16 corner kicks but failed to score on any of them.

“We were kind of frustrated with our set-pieces because we had so many chances,” Parker said. “That is something we talked about a lot on film – we went over literally every set piece.”

UCLA will have to play this weekend without senior goalkeeper Teagan Micah, senior midfielder Jessie Fleming and freshman midfielder Rachel Lowe, who have been called up to their respective national squads. Cromwell confirmed that redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy will start in Micah’s place.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Parker said. “We’ve rotated a lot of girls, the last few games especially, and everyone that’s come in has done really well. The same expectations are there – nothing changes regardless of who’s on the field.”

The kickoffs are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday for Arizona and 1 p.m. on Sunday for Arizona State.