UCLA women’s soccer ends road games undefeated after tie with Washington State
Redshirt senior forward Kennedy Faulknor passes the ball. No. 8 UCLA women’s soccer punched first against Washington State on Sunday courtesy of a goal from Faulknor, but the Bruins tied the Cougars after double overtime. (Christine Kao/Daily Bruin staff)
Women's Soccer
| No. 8 UCLA | 1 |
| Washington State | 1 |
By Diego Farinha
Oct. 25, 2021 12:14 a.m.
With minutes remaining in double overtime, Washington State looked in on goal.
However, a heavy touch from a Cougar forward stopped the attack and gave the Bruins the ball back. Sophomore forward Reilyn Turner got behind the defense on the ensuing UCLA attack but failed to beat goalkeeper Nadia Cooper to grab the golden goal.
No. 8 UCLA women’s soccer (13-0-3, 5-0-3 Pac-12) and Washington State (10-2-4, 4-1-3) played to a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes of action Sunday evening in Pullman. With the tie, the Bruins have now ended both of their last two seasons undefeated on the road.
“In the Pac-12, every game is a different situation and every team can bring out the best version of themselves,” said freshman defender Lilly Reale. “On the road we have the same mentality of trying our best to play our style.”
Coming into the contest, Washington State owned the conference’s best defense, conceding six goals over 15 fixtures.
The Bruins challenged that defense right out the gate, earning a corner kick in the fourth minute. On the succeeding set piece, a flick by graduate student midfielder Olivia Athens deflected the ball to sophomore midfielder Dasia Torbert at the back post, but her shot was cleared off the line by a Cougar defender.
Ten minutes later, redshirt senior forward Kennedy Faulknor dribbled herself within distance of goal. The forward struck a left-footed shot 25 yards from net, beating Cooper to get the Bruins on the board and earn her third score of the year.
“That’s always going to be our mentality,” Faulknor said. “To score early and try to put them away.”
The score also continued a trend of UCLA scoring first as it has found the back of the net first in all 16 matches this season, while 25 of 35 goals this year have come in the first half.
UCLA had chances to double its lead, but none of the attempts tested Cooper. Of the seven first-half shots, the only shot on target was Faulknor’s goal. Junior forward Mia Fishel nearly added to her weekend tally in the 27th minute after a brace against Washington on Thursday, but her shot flew high of the goal.
In the initial moments after the second-half kickoff, Washington State’s leading scorer, forward Elyse Bennett, created an open goal for forward Margie Detrizio, but freshman defender Quincy McMahon cleared the ball in front of the goal line. On the other side of the field, McMahon found Faulknor in the Cougar’s 18-yard-box, and the forward’s effort hit the crossbar and went out of play.
Seconds after Faulknor rang the goal frame, Cougar midfielder Sydney Studer equalized the contest. Studer received a pass at the edge of the kickoff circle and dribbled into open space before dispatching a shot from 30 yards out, beating senior goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy.
The Bruins have now conceded a goal in their last seven games after recording eight consecutive shutouts earlier in the season.
Coach Amanda Cromwell said she was happy with how her team navigated an up-tempo and physical second half.
“It turned into a more direct game (in the second half) – the tempo got out of whack,” Cromwell said. “We like to control the tempo better and got caught up in a track meet. With them coming in on some of those tackles, it just made the game very intense. I’m really proud of us for battling through and staying composed.”
Following the 55th-minute score, the Cougars nearly took the lead on multiple occasions. In the 62nd minute, midfielder/forward Grayson Lynch hit the right post before Brzykcy jumped on the loose ball.
Moments before overtime, Detrizio had a chance to win the match for Washington State. The forward had a 1-on-1 with Brzykcy but her shot went wide of the goal to send the match to overtime.
In the two overtime periods, both the Bruins and Cougars totaled four shots in the 20 minutes, forcing Brzykcy and Cooper to make three saves each.
“We’ve had those games before – we had a goal,(the opposition) equalizes, and then we’re able to finish the game,” Faulknor said. “We weren’t able to get the job done tonight, but I know we have it in us.”
UCLA has three more games left on its regular-season schedule, with a matchup against No. 14 Stanford up next at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on Thursday.
