UCLA women’s soccer beats Iowa, Margueritte Aozasa makes college coaching debut

This post was updated Aug. 21 at 9:21 p.m.

It is the start of a new era in Westwood.

In coach Margueritte Aozasa’s debut, No. 13 UCLA women’s soccer (1-0) defeated Iowa (0-1) by a score of 1-0 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Thursday night marked Aozasa’s first career victory as a collegiate head coach.

Aozasa said it felt good to get her first win and to set the tone for the rest of the season.

“I feel like this is a year of first impressions for us,” Aozasa said. “It was nice to get the win first off, and then aside from the first 15 minutes, I thought we put together a pretty good performance.”

The Bruins’ performance to start the match did not please Aozasa, she said, as her squad came mere inches from going down 1-0 in the ninth minute after Iowa’s midfielder Hailey Rydberg fired a shot off the top crossbar. Five minutes later, sophomore forward Lexi Wright registered the blue and gold’s first shot of the contest, but it was saved by Iowa’s goalkeeper Macy Enneking.

UCLA and Iowa would combine for seven shots in the first half, with the Bruins logging four to the Hawkeyes’ three. The visitors generated opportunities in the first half behind six corner kicks, in comparison to the blue and gold’s zero.

The Bruins would start the second half on the attack, tallying six shots in the first 15 minutes. The 12th shot of the match for the blue and gold turned into its first goal of the 2022 season after graduate student midfielder Maricarmen Reyes found the back of the net off a cross from sophomore defender Quincy McMahon.

Reyes attributed the second-half turnaround to the Bruins working together and learning from their mistakes from the first half.

“I couldn’t do this without my team,” Reyes said. “We battled through this whole game. Big Ten teams come out super strong, and we were ready for it.”

Neither team would register another shot until the 80th minute when Iowa fired a free kick from just outside the box that required graduate student goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy to make a diving save to keep the Bruins’ lead intact.

Brzykcy said she didn’t try to do too much with the game on the line.

“I kept my eye on the ball and tracked it,” Brzykcy said. “Saw her foot curl, and I was able to come and take it.”

The Bruins managed no shots in the final 30 minutes of the match, but the same defense that put together an eight-game shutout streak in 2021 logged its first donut of the season.

One notable standout for UCLA on Thursday was freshman midfielder Ally Lemos, one of four Bruins to play all 90 minutes, which led to praise from her coach and teammates.

“She’s calm, cool and collected, that’s kind of her game,” Aozasa said. “We’re a good team when she’s out there. We’re a better team when we’re finding her the ball.”

While Aozasa’s story in Westwood began Thursday, Reyes’s final year donning the blue and gold began exactly how she envisioned it.

“It was a good first game, and we’re just so excited for the rest of the season,” Reyes said.