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Grace’s Whits: UCLA women’s soccer can bounce back to contend for NCAA title after recent losses

The UCLA women’s soccer team gathers in a huddle after its loss to USC. The No. 1 seeded Bruins will still enter the tournament as a top prospect after their recent defeat. (Jeremy Chen/Assistant Photo editor)

By Grace Whitaker

Nov. 8, 2022 11:08 p.m.

The Bruins were defeated in their final conference game Friday by their crosstown rivals for the first time in seven years.

The Pac-12 trophy that sat looming in the distance did not accompany them home to Westwood.

Instead, up north, the Cardinal clinched their first Pac-12 championship since 2019, erasing UCLA’s hope for a three-peat.

However, the 2022 season is not over yet, and despite the obvious ramifications of a loss, sometimes it can be just what a team needs. The blue and gold has now suffered the first and second losses of its campaign, a scenario it didn’t face until the very last game of its run in 2021.

The defeats should have pointed out the areas the Bruins need to improve on before entering the tournament and should have stung just enough to ensure they do not grow complacent this late in the season.

“If history has shown us anything with this team is we play extremely well after loss,” said coach Margueritte Aozasa.

But despite the loss to No. 4 seed USC on Friday, UCLA women’s soccer earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

After UCLA’s perfect start to the season through its first 13 games, it was not unreasonable to assume the Bruins would bring home their third straight Pac-12 championship and even have their best shot in years at an NCAA championship. Two poor marks on that once flawless record changed the outlook.

With that being said, a Pac-12 championship does not predetermine the NCAA victor. Of the last six Pac-12 teams to go on to win a national title, two did not win the Pac-12 prior to reaching the top.

“We have a long road ahead of us in this tournament, and we’re still confident that we can go out, (and) we can show our best,” said sophomore defender Quincy McMahon.

In its last campaign, UCLA entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed and was pitted against UC Irvine in the first round. It was a first-round home contest, coming off its second straight conference crown, against an unranked team the Bruins had defeated handily earlier that season. Most saw this as an easy victory, a ticket practically already punched to the second round of the tournament.

The match, however, did not go according to plan.

Within the first 14 minutes of the contest, the Anteaters had seized the lead. A swift goal to the back of the net that the Bruins were never able to equalize eliminated them in their first loss of the season.

While last year’s first defeat of the campaign closed its season and left the team empty-handed, the Bruins have suffered two similar defeats in 2022, learning from their mistakes without the threat of such dire consequences.

That distinction could mean one of two things for this year’s squad.

First, UCLA could potentially see history repeat itself. A low-seeded team could get the luck of the draw as Stanford and USC did earlier this season and manage to slide a ball past graduate student goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy during a set piece.

Or, perhaps the more likely option, UCLA could come back with a vengeance. The blue and gold could show it is still the same team that traveled to North Carolina earlier this season and defeated the then-No. 1 and then-No. 2 teams in the nation – the team that spent nine weeks atop the national rankings.

If the latter is true, Aozasa’s first year as head coach could end in a similar fashion to former UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell’s first season at the helm in 2013, when the Bruins claimed the program’s first national championship.

Freshman midfielder Ally Lemos emphasized that despite not being able to accomplish one of their season goals of winning the Pac-12 title, there’s still one trophy left to be given out – one the Bruins haven’t held since the fateful 2013 season.

“We want to win a natty (national championship), so I think that’s the one,” Lemos said.

Only time will tell, as six games could still stand in their way.

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Grace Whitaker | Sports senior staff
Whitaker is currently a senior staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball and cross country beats and a contributor on the women's basketball and beach volleyball beats.
Whitaker is currently a senior staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball and cross country beats and a contributor on the women's basketball and beach volleyball beats.
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