The Bruins are one step closer to an NCAA championship.

After their first-round elimination in 2021 against unranked UC Irvine, No. 1 seed UCLA women’s soccer (18-2-0, 9-2-0 Pac-12) dodged back-to-back early postseason exits by defeating unranked Northern Arizona University 4-1. The blue and gold’s next step is taking on the University of Central Florida (9-2-6, 7-0-1 AAC) on Friday at Wallis Annenberg stadium.

Last Friday’s game also marked the Bruins’ first victory since their loss to USC in the final match of the regular season.

Going forward from the loss that stripped her team of its Pac-12 title hopes, coach Margueritte Aozasa said UCLA is focusing on scoring right out of the gate.

“One of the things we talked about in pregame was aggressiveness and courage in the attacking third,” Aozasa said. “And 18 shots shows that, so I was really happy with the group.”

Sophomore midfielder Emma Egizii – who scored one of the Bruins’ four goals in Friday’s game – reiterated the impact that the loss to USC had on the team’s mentality.

“We kind of went over what went wrong,” Egizzi said. “ And we’re just focused on the next six games going into the championship.”

After its first-round victory, the blue and gold had to wait until UCF’s match on Sunday against NC State to determine their opponent in the next contest.

Egizzi said the uncertainty of the next match’s lineup was not a concern for the team.

“Every game you just go out there and you do what you can do,” Egizzi said. “No matter the opponent, we’re just going to focus on our strengths.”

UCLA has only played UCF and NC State once, in 2010 and 2018, respectively.

Before the Bruins’ opponent was determined, Aozasa said UCLA would be prepared to take on either team despite the lack of experience playing them.

“I’ve watched enough of their games over the years and they are two programs that we have a lot of respect for,” Aozasa said. “Both head coaches do an excellent job and so we’ll be prepared either way.”

Sophomore forward Lexi Wright said the Bruins’ latest win translated into excitement to take on UCF.

“Just the excitement and the confidence that everyone brought tonight is definitely going to carry over,” Wright said. “And I think just seeing what we can do, we’re excited.”

Should UCLA defeat UCF, it will compete against either No. 4 seed Northwestern or Vanderbilt two days later, in the third round of the tournament.

When asked about her takeaways from the win over NAU, Egizzi said the team will continue working to improve, but enjoy the time playing as well.

“Big takeaways were kind of even though we’re up, still building good habits and, we just want to be a good team throughout,” Egizzi said. “ Another takeaway was just like having fun you know, at the end of the day, it’s just a game.”

The Bruins face off against the Knights on Friday at 7 p.m. at Wallis Annenberg Stadium.