Bruins Second Half Rally Not Enough And Fall 4-2 To Washington State
Soccer News: The UCLA Bruins rallied from a two-goal first-half deficit to tie Washington State early in the second half but ultimately lost to the Cougars, 4-2, in Pullman, Washington.
Washington State (9-2, 2-1 in the Pac-12) struck first on a direct free kick by Cara Wegner just outside the box and added a second goal at 38:31 after Beau Bremer capitalized on a bad clearance and shot past Cassie Sternbach to the lower left corner.
UCLA (5-6, 1-2) got rejuvenated at halftime and quickly got back into the game thanks to a pair of quick goals by junior forward Darian Jenkins just 1:16 apart. Jenkins put in her first goal at 48:18 after Madison Tye sent in a free kick to the left side to Jenkins, who fired far post to trim the lead in half. Just over a minute later, Jenkins struck again, taking a Zoey Goralski cross and poking it past Cougar goalkeeper Ella Dederick for the equalizer at 49:34. The two goals by Jenkins were her second and third of the season.
The Cougars, however, answered right back two minutes later with the go-ahead goal at 51:56. Wegner started the play with a shot that was saved by Arielle Schechtman, who came into the game at halftime. The rebound, however, popped out, and Kaitlyn Johnson capitalized by poking in the rebound from three yards out.
Washington State got some breathing room at 65:42 on a goal by Kourtney Guetlein, assisted by Johnson.
Dederick earned the win for the Cougars, making five saves. Schechtman was tagged with the loss. She had two saves in 45 miutes, while Sternbach had one save.
UCLA returns to Drake Stadium next weekend to host Arizona on Friday in the Bruins’ annual Breast Cancer Awareness game, set for 7pm.
The Cougars will be on the road next week, facing Utah, Friday, Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City.
Photos Courtesy of WSU
