UCLA women’s soccer concludes nonconference schedule undefeated
Sophomore midfielder Michaela Rosenbaum made her third start of the year and played a season-high 63 minutes as No. 3 UCLA women’s soccer earned its eighth straight win after defeating San Diego State. (Lauren Man/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Women's Soccer
| No. 3 UCLA | 2 |
| San Diego State | 0 |
By Diego Farinha
Sept. 20, 2021 1:34 p.m.
For the second straight game, Mia Fishel got the scoring started for the Bruins in her hometown.
After the junior forward recorded a brace Thursday night, it only took 10 minutes for the San Diego native to get on the score sheet once again Sunday evening.
“Mia is one of most dangerous forwards and attackers in the country,” said sophomore forward Reilyn Turner.
No. 3 UCLA women’s soccer (8-0) concluded its nonconference schedule with a 2-0 victory over San Diego State University (2-6) at SDSU Sports Deck. The win marks the second consecutive season in which the Bruins have remained undefeated against nonconference opponents and begun the year on an eight-game winning streak.
“It’s been a tough week with Monday, Thursday and Sunday games,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “Having (senior midfielder Maricarmen Reyes) in Mexico, some players have some knocks, (so) getting two wins – two shutouts – is good momentum going into the Pac-12 schedule.”
The shutout also marks the seventh straight for the blue and gold which equals the same amount of clean sheets earned in the entire 2020-2021 campaign.
Early in the contest, a shot from junior defender Brianne Riley was blocked by the SDSU defense and fell to the feet of Fishel atop the six-yard box as the forward placed her shot in the bottom left corner for her third consecutive goal for UCLA.
For the remainder of the half, the Bruins controlled possession and were responsible for all the shots. UCLA outshot SDSU 11 to zero with the Aztecs not managing a shot in the match until the 50th minute.
Other than Fishel’s goal, sophomore midfielder Michaela Rosenbaum created numerous chances for the Bruins with her crosses into the box. In the 30th minute, a Rosenbaum cross was touched by Fishel before hitting the woodwork and staying out of the net. Ten minutes later, another cross from Rosenbaum located Turner in the box, but the forward’s effort rolled wide of the target.
“Whenever I get the ball, my first thing is to always try to look forward and find whoever’s up top,” Rosenbaum said. “Mia and Reilyn are always communicating with me and always making great runs, so they make it easy on me because they do all the hard work off the ball.”
In the last seconds of the half, Turner nutmegged an Aztec defender on the right flank as she evaded multiple players before her left-footed shot was saved by the goalkeeper and neither Fishel nor Rosenbaum were able to finish the rebound.
The second period yielded more of the same as the Bruins held the Aztecs to three total shots in the game with only one reaching the hands of senior goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy.
“We want to keep doing that every game,” Rosenbaum said. “I love it and I love this team so much. We’re just trying to take each game and just focus on that one and get a shutout. Amanda said it – if we can get the shutout, we’re going to score and we’re going to create chances.”
UCLA doubled its lead in the 72nd minute when Turner capitalized on a failed clearance from SDSU and netted her seventh goal of the season, tying her for the team lead with her forward partner Fishel.
With the shutout and just one shot on goal allowed, the Bruins have maintained a 631-minute streak without allowing a score while Brzykcy has yet to concede in her 630 minutes of action between the sticks.
UCLA opens the conference portion of its schedule with a matchup against Oregon on Friday.
