Southern California Rivals Face Off To Close Out Regular Season
Soccer News: UCLA Women’s Soccer (8-9-1, 4-5-1 in the Pac-12) closes out the season with a Crosstown Cup showdown against No. 14 USC (13-5-1, 8-2-0) on Friday, Nov. 6 at Drake Stadium. The match kicks off at 6pm and will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. It is the second game in a doubleheader with the 19th-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team, who plays Oregon State at 2:30pm.
#PacDrake
UCLA is looking to PACK Drake Stadium to the brim for the ultimate crosstown showdown. Last year’s rivalry game brought out a NCAA record 10,128 fans to the Coliseum, and the Bruins are hoping for a similar crowd this weekend. Tickets are on sale online.
SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup
Ten points will be on the line in the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup series, which UCLA currently leads, 15-5. The winner of Friday’s game will receive 10 points. If there is a tie, each team will receive five. UCLA won the inaugural Crosstown Cup a year ago, 95-85. Women’s soccer won 10 of those points with a 2-0 victory at the Coliseum.
Senior Salute
UCLA will honor its senior class on Friday in pregame ceremonies at 5:45pm. The Bruin seniors – Taylor Alderete, Kristiana Konkol-Mroczkowski, Kodi Lavrusky, Belden Long, Courtney Proctor, Taylor Smith and Madison Tye – have compiled a four-year record of 69-14-9, a winning percentage of .799, two Pac-12 titles and UCLA’s first-ever NCAA title in 2013. They have played in a combined 325 games during their careers at UCLA.
Alumnae Recognition
UCLA will recognize and honor its women’s soccer alumnae on the field at halftime of Friday’s game.
The Matchup
USC has won six of its last seven matches and split 1-0 decisions in the Bay Area last weekend, losing to No. 4 Stanford and beating No. 20 California. The Trojans are led by Morgan Andrews, the Notre Dame transfer who has 14 points off five goals and four assists. Goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme holds a 0.57 goals against average with nine shutouts.
UCLA leads the overall series with USC, 22-5-1. The Bruins have won the last two meetings and are 15-0 against the Trojans at home.
SoCal FC Teammates Face Off
Six Bruins and four Trojans were teammates in the WPSL this summer but are now back on opposite sides this week. UCLA’s Annie Alvarado, Zoey Goralski, Darian Jenkins, Lauren Kaskie, Lavrusky, and Amber Munerlyn joined forces with USC’s Prudhomme, Andrews, Dominique Randle and Reilly Parker on league runner-up SoCal FC. Alvarado, Jenkins, Andrews and Randle were selected as 2015 WPSL All-Stars.
Last Time Out
UCLA held off fourth-ranked Stanford for the first 61 minutes of the game but gave up two second-half goals, losing to the Cardinal, 2-0. The victory gave Stanford the Pac-12 title outright.
Bruins Earn NSCAA Team Academic Award
For the fourth-straight year, UCLA has earned a NSCAA Team Academic Award. The Bruins earned the first NSCAA Team Academic Award in school history for the 2011-12 campaign and have won it every year since. The 2014-15 Bruins posted a 3.03 team GPA to receive the distinction.
Spread Offense
Ten different UCLA players have scored the Bruins’ 23 goals this season. Jenkins leads the team in goals scored with five, followed by Lavrusky, who has four, and Munerlyn and Alvarado, who have three each. Taylor Smith and Kaskie have two goals apiece, while Gabbi Miranda, MacKenzie Cerda, Konkol-Mroczkowski and Claire Winter have one each. Goralski leads the team in assists with five, followed by Lavrusky, Alvarado, Smith and Cerda, who have two each.
Goralski Lends a Foot
Defender Goralski is tied for first in the Pac-12 in assists in conference games, recording four in 10 games (0.40 average). Goralski has a team-high five assists on the year, with three coming on game-winning goals.
Tight Ballgames
Twelve of UCLA’s 18 matches have been decided by just one goal. The Bruins have won four games by a 1-0 score, three by a 2-1 count and one by a 5-1 margin.
First-Timers
Eleven of the 20 Bruins who earned at least one start this season were first-year starters – freshman Hailie Mace; redshirt freshmen Arielle Schechtman, Reema Bzeih and Siri Ervik; sophomores Goralski, Cerda, Gabrielle Matulich, and Claire Winter; junior Cassie Sternbach; and seniors Tye and Belden Long.
Tough Schedule
UCLA played one of the toughest schedules in the nation, with 14 matches scheduled against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, including national runner-up Virginia, College Cup participant Stanford and 22-time NCAA champion North Carolina. UCLA’s game against USC will be the Bruins’ ninth against a Top 25 team. The Bruins have also played three games against Top 5 teams.
Seven Bruins on All-Century Team
Seven UCLA players, led by Starting XI selections Lauren Cheney (2006-09) and Abby Dahlkemper (2011-14), were selected to the Pac-12’s All-Century Women’s Soccer Team. Named to the reserve squad were Sydney Leroux (2008-11), Sam Mewis (2011-14), Christina DiMartino (2005-08), Nandi Pryce (2000-03) and Katelyn Rowland (2011-14).
