UCLA women’s soccer alumni earn medals at 2020 Tokyo Olympics
UCLA women’s soccer alumni Abby Dahlkemper (left), Jessie Fleming (middle) and Sam Mewis (right) all won medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Fleming won the gold with Team Canada, marking her second Olympic medal. (Daily Bruin file photos)
By Diego Farinha
Aug. 6, 2021 3:18 p.m.
This post was updated Aug. 8 at 8:08 p.m.
Instead of blue and gold, the Bruins are wearing bronze and gold.
Four former UCLA women’s soccer players represented three countries in the Tokyo Olympics. Goalkeeper Teagan Micah of Australia along with midfielder Sam Mewis and defender Abby Dahlkemper from Team USA played in their first Olympic games, while Canadian midfielder Jessie Fleming competed in her second. All four Bruins participated in the two medal matches in Tokyo.
Fleming – who donned the blue and gold as recently as 2019 – is wearing gold once more.
On Friday evening, Canada and Sweden met in the Olympic final with the winner set to claim the first women’s soccer gold medal in its country’s history. Despite the Swedes taking a first-half lead, Canada equalized in the 67th minute courtesy of a Fleming penalty kick, in which the 23-year-old slotted the ball into the bottom left corner as the Swedish goalkeeper dove right.
Level at 1-1 after regulation, half an hour of extra time ensued, but with both countries unable to net a goal after 120 minutes of play, the match was decided on penalties.
Following a Swedish miss to begin the shootout, Fleming made her second penalty of the night and fourth of the tournament, again sending the goalkeeper the wrong way as she pierced the net. After an exchange of makes and misses between the squads, midfielder Julia Grosso ended the match for Canada, clinching Olympic glory.
What an Olympic Champion performance from Jessie Fleming! #CANWNTGold pic.twitter.com/hq1ocNqPJp
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) August 6, 2021
Canada entered the tournament intending to change the color of its medal after finishing third in the two previous Olympics. In the three group stage matches, Fleming played 225 total minutes, including two starts, as Canada finished with one win and two draws en route to a knockout stage berth.
Playing in the knockout rounds, the two-time MAC Hermann Trophy finalist made two crucial penalty kicks in the quarterfinal and semifinal to help her country advance to the final for the first time in its Olympic history.
Against Brazil, after 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, Fleming converted her penalty kick in the shootout to help Canada advance 4-3 on penalties. In the semifinal against rival United States, after a video assistant referee review awarded the Canadians a penalty kick, captain Christine Sinclair – the team’s designated penalty taker – handed off the opportunity to Fleming.
From 12 yards out, the Chelsea midfielder calmly found the back of the net for the match’s lone goal to lift her country over Team USA for the first time in 20 years.
Canada converts the penalty to take the lead. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/r856yMXjIb
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 2, 2021
In the bronze medal match between Australia and the United States, three Bruins faced off against each other for the second time in the tournament.
In the rematch, Micah started her fifth consecutive match in goal for the Matildas while Mewis was a starting midfielder for Team USA, with Dahlkemper available off the bench. Unlike the reverse fixture – which ended in a 0-0 draw and a clean sheet for Micah – the third-place game was a seven-goal thriller as the Americans secured the bronze medal after being left off the podium at the 2016 Games.
The Australian goalkeeper – who debuted with the team in June – recorded five saves in the contest, adding to her tournament tally of 19 in five games. On the other side, Mewis saw 61 minutes of action in the midfield before being subbed off for midfielder Rose Lavelle. The “Tower of Power” ended the tournament with six appearances, scoring her only goal of the Olympics in Team USA’s penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands in the quarterfinal.
After starting in the first three of four matches at center back for the United States, Dahlkemper did not play in the semifinal or the bronze medal match.
While Mewis and Dahlkemper were unsuccessful in defending their 2019 World Cup title with an Olympic gold medal, the former UCLA teammates won their first Olympic medals and helped Team USA earn a spot back on the podium.
And with Fleming in the midfield for Canada and Micah protecting the net for Australia, both countries yielded their best Olympic results ever with the former Bruins on the field.
