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Jacq’ed Up: Women’s soccer needs win against Stanford to boost shot at championship title

UCLA women’s soccer will head to Palo Alto to face Stanford on Saturday. The Cardinal beat the Bruins in the 2017 national title game and have won the matchup’s last five games. (Axel Lopez/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk

Oct. 16, 2019 1:13 a.m.

The Bruins only have one game this weekend, as opposed to the usual Thursday-to-Sunday turnaround.

But that one game is the most important of their season.

When No. 16 UCLA women’s soccer (9-3-1, 3-2-0 Pac-12) heads to Palo Alto this weekend, the match against No. 2 Stanford (12-1-0, 5-0-0) will make or break its season. A loss will bring the Bruins to .500 in conference play, while a win could save a season that was tainted by back-to-back losses to unranked Pac-12 teams.

Last year, when then-No. 16 UCLA fell to then-No. 1 Stanford 3-2, the Bruins were without then-senior defender Hailie Mace and then-junior midfielder Jessie Fleming –who were away fulfilling national team duties – as well as then-junior goalkeeper Teagan Micah, who had a concussion.

The loss was a setback, as it took UCLA to 0-2 in conference play. But given the Bruins played without three crucial starters, it wasn’t a catastrophic result. UCLA went on to win the rest of its Pac-12 games to finish second in the conference and earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

This year, UCLA already has two Pac-12 losses, and it has yet to play the other two conference powerhouses, Stanford and No. 4 USC. Meanwhile, the Cardinal are 5-0 in conference, including a 3-2 defeat of the then-No. 3 Trojans.

A UCLA win over Stanford would hand the Cardinal their first Pac-12 loss of the season and give the Bruins an opportunity to be in a three-horse race for third place in the conference with USC and No. 25 Washington, both of which will visit Westwood in the coming weeks.

The Pac-12, packed with top national talent, has proved a good measuring stick to see how a team will fare in the postseason.

As second place finisher in the Pac-12 last season, UCLA went on to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament and lost in penalty kicks to North Carolina. In 2017, UCLA also came in second in conference play before advancing to the national championship.

When the Bruins finished fourth in the Pac-12 in 2016, they only made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament. The year before, UCLA finished with a losing conference record and didn’t get a tournament bid.

Other than setting up a path toward postseason success, there’s another reason the Bruins need a win: redemption.

UCLA has lost its past five meetings with Stanford, including one in the national championship two seasons ago. The last time the Bruins defeated the Cardinal was a 2-1 home win in 2014, and the last time they won on the Farm was a double overtime game in 2013 – the year UCLA won the national title.

Each of those last five matches between the teams – with one exception in 2015 – has been decided by a single goal, and the 2016 game went to double overtime before Stanford scored the golden goal.

Not only do the Bruins have something to prove against a conference rival, but after hitting a season-high No. 2 ranking in the national standings back in early September, UCLA hit a season-low No. 22 last week before climbing back six spots. A win over the No. 2 team would resolidify the Bruins as title-contenders.

UCLA can win this game. This season, the Bruins are 2-0 against ranked opponents, including an upset over the defending national champion in then-No. 1 Florida State on Aug. 29.

But after losing to two unranked teams and tying a third, UCLA needs another big upset to save its season.

Beating Stanford for the first time in five years would do the trick.

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Jacqueline Dzwonczyk | Sports senior staff
Dzwonczyk is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's soccer beat. She was previously an assistant Sports editor for the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball, men's golf and women's golf beats. Dzwonczyk was previously a staff writer on the women's soccer, beach volleyball and women's tennis beats.
Dzwonczyk is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's soccer beat. She was previously an assistant Sports editor for the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball, men's golf and women's golf beats. Dzwonczyk was previously a staff writer on the women's soccer, beach volleyball and women's tennis beats.
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