Women’s soccer beats Badgers, securing spot in NCAA quarterfinal for 3rd straight year
Junior midfielder Viviana Villacorta scored her second goal in the last four games when No. 2 seed UCLA women’s soccer took down No. 3 seed Wisconsin in the third round of the NCAA tournament at home Sunday. (Alice Naland/Daily Bruin staff)
Women's Soccer
| No. 3 seed Wisconsin | 0 |
| No. 2 seed UCLA | 2 |
By Cassidy Hunt
Nov. 24, 2019 6:46 p.m.
This post was updated Nov. 24 at 11:07 p.m.
Once again, the Bruins are quarterfinals bound.
No. 2 seed UCLA women’s soccer (17-4-1, 8-3-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 3 seed Wisconsin (16-4-2, 10-0-1 Big Ten) 2-0 in the third round of the NCAA tournament Sunday to earn a spot in the quarterfinals for the third year in a row.
“Wisconsin came out,” said junior midfielder Viviana Villacorta. “They had their game plan and we had to play the way we know how to play and find a way to settle down and gain our own momentum.”
In the ninth minute, junior forward Ashley Sanchez received a through ball and beat two Wisconsin defenders for a shot at the Bruins’ first goal of the night, but sent the ball several yards wide of the right goal post.
Wisconsin forward Dani Rhodes was fouled just outside of the UCLA box with less than a minute left in the first half and the resulting free kick was fired high to the center of the goal. But senior goalkeeper Teagan Micah leaped to punch the ball up and out of play.
At halftime, the Badgers had one shot – which was on target – while the Bruins had five shots and a .400 on-goal percentage.
“The first 20 minutes was like two teams feeling each other out,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “It was kind of stagnant and not as explosive as we’ve been. We knew that needed to change and the second half was all us. That was true UCLA soccer.”
Freshman forward Mia Fishel recorded a shot that was blocked by Badger goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer just 36 seconds into the second half. Sophomore midfielder Maricarmen Reyes followed up with another shot, which was stopped and cleared by a Wisconsin defender.
Then the Bruins broke through to score twice in five minutes.
Fishel found the back of the net in the fourth minute of the second half when she fended off four Wisconsin defenders to create a shot to the bottom right corner, out of reach of Bloomer. The goal was Fishel’s third of the postseason.
“We all knew we were going to score a goal,” Fishel said. “How we were playing the first half didn’t go our way, but we just had to take control. We rushed things just a little bit getting into their play, but it was really about playing our style.”
UCLA struck again in the 53rd minute when Villacorta was fouled five yards outside of the Badger box, earning Wisconsin defender Camryn Biegalski a yellow card. Villacorta’s kick sailed into the upper left corner of the goal, and Bloomer’s dive was not enough to stop the Bruins from increasing their lead.
“When I fell to the ground, I was really mad,” Villacorta said. “I decided, I’m going to be cool, calm and collected. I just pictured myself scoring (and) I did, which was amazing because it put us up 2-0 and it helped us calm down as a team.”
UCLA finished with 17 shots, nine of which were on target, and allowed Wisconsin three shots in the match, including just one on goal.
The match was the Bruins’ final appearance at Wallis Annenberg Stadium this season.
“I’m glad that we ended on a good note for our home fans,” Fishel said. “Now they can tune in to the next game and the following games to see us progress.”
UCLA will be back on the road for the first time in four games to take on No. 1 seed Florida State in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament.
