This post was updated Aug. 21 at 7:49 p.m.

The game was over.

The goals were carted away as the remaining fans trickled out of Wallis Annenberg Stadium.

But Val Vargas wasn’t done.

The junior midfielder stood alone on the field, lining up a series of balls at the top of the box. One by one, she drove them into a practice net, working to ensure that the match’s outcome would not be repeated.

Earlier that evening, No. 4 UCLA women’s soccer (1-1) fell to No. 6 Tennessee (3-1) in its home opener. The Bruins suffered only their third home-opening loss in program history after failing to convert all 17 of their shots Wednesday night.

The Volunteers’ lone score came in the 24th minute, netted by Shae O’Rourke. The forward slid one in on a light touch after freshman Bruin goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor ventured off her line and came out of reach.

“Tonight, I think we made a critical error,” coach Margueritte Aozasa said. “It was a goal that we talked about preventing all week, and we didn’t do it.”

The game started off slow, with sophomore forward Bella Winn taking the first shot in the ninth minute, facing pressure from two defenders.

The Bruins took their next opportunity in the 31st minute, with Vargas sending a shot towards the center of the goal and into the arms of Volunteer goalkeeper Cayden Norris. Vargas took another attempt just three minutes later, overshooting and sending the ball soaring above the crossbar.

By the end of the first period, the Bruins had recorded four shots and a corner kick but struggled to generate consistent pressure on the attack.

“You cannot lose your personality and expect to win games,” Aozasa said. “I thought in the first 20, 25 minutes, we did not play with our personality. And it took us getting scored on to kinda settle in and turn that up.”

However, UCLA didn’t let the slow start dictate the rest of their game.

The squad started the second half with a newfound intensity, firing six shots from five different players in the first 10 minutes. Even defenders pushed forward, with freshman center back Meila Brewer accounting for two of those attempts.

UCLA also locked down defensively, denying Tennessee a shot or corner in the final 45 minutes.

But despite outshooting the Volunteers 13-0 and taking seven corner kicks throughout the final half, the Bruins couldn’t convert.

“Our takeaway is we gotta be hungry, we gotta finish our chances,” said senior forward Bridgette Marin-Valencia. “But honestly, I think this team came out very strong in the second half.”

The match cultivated a physical intensity that was felt across the pitch, with constant contact – from subtle shoves to crowding – even between players away from the ball.

Both teams racked up fouls throughout the contest, with Tennessee receiving 18 and UCLA 11. The sole yellow card was issued in the 26th minute to Volunteer midfielder Keaton Mitchell.

“In the past, there’s been times where we’ve let other teams kind of bully us a little,” Winn said. “And I feel like this game, we really showed them we weren’t gonna get shoved off the ball. We were going to fight if they were going to fight with us.”

The Volunteers secured their second top-five victory and third overall in a week with Wednesday’s win. Before facing UCLA, they shut out defending national champion then-No. 1 North Carolina on Aug. 14 and overpowered Eastern Kentucky 9-0 on Aug. 17.

The Bruins’ next challenge comes away from home Sunday in another top-25 matchup against No. 19 BYU. UCLA will look to apply lessons from Wednesday’s loss and channel its emotion into the match.

“We’re hungry,” Marin-Valencia said. “This team is big on energy, and we are going to turn that energy into anger. We love proving people wrong.”