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  UCLA Sports Information A team player, Bethany Bogart gave up a career in college tennis for the rewards of playing with the UCLA women's soccer team.

By Amanda Fletcher

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

For Bethany Bogart, it’s definitely a team thing.

As a starting defender on the UCLA women’s soccer team, the junior San Diego native is on her way to the Final Four this weekend in San Jose. But, for her, the best part is she won’t be going alone.

“I love my team,” Bogart said. “All the players are my best friends.”

But Bogart wasn’t always such a team player.

Up until the eighth grade, Bogart split her time between competitive youth tennis tournaments and club soccer with the San Diego Surf, one of Southern California’s elite soccer clubs. Two sports that, in her eyes, are very different.

“Youth tennis is really individual,” Bogart said. “You’re out there by yourself. Playing a team sport with so many people all working together is a lot better.”

But after she broke her pelvis and heel in a soccer game during that season, which kept her from competing for three months, Bogart, then 5-foot-2, just wasn’t the same on the field.

“I wasn’t scared but I wasn’t as aggressive,” Bogart said. “I was so little then that I shied away from the physical contact.”

So, at her parents’ urging, she made tennis her main priority in high school. But her blood still boiled black and white.

“I’d watch my younger brother and sister play (soccer) and it would kill me,” Bogart said.

Then in her sophomore year, Bogart hit a growth spurt.

“Everyone, my coaches and parents, would make bets on how tall I’d be,” Bogart laughed.

Seven inches and two years later, Bogart returned to the soccer field and found the fire her injuries had almost put out.

“Growing and going out there and being bigger than some girls gave me confidence,” Bogart said.

Bruin teammate Lauren Emblem, who played soccer with Bogart since before she got injured, remembers Bethany’s return to the field.

“When she came back, I knew that’s what she wanted,” Emblem said. “She’s a really good athlete and can play any sport, but she came back and became an awesome (soccer) player.”

Bogart went on to finish high school excelling in tennis, soccer, cross country and track. In those four sports she accumulated 13 letters, eight all-league honors, two all-CIF honors, three league titles, two individual titles, and four CIF championship victories.

But when it was time to go to college, Bogart once again had to choose to focus on a single sport.

“I was pretty much supposed to play tennis in college,” Bogart said. “UCLA was the only school I looked at for soccer.”

And this time, Bogart chose to stick to the field, citing the team aspect of soccer as the main factor in her decision.

“In tennis you feel really good because you accomplish things personally,” Bogart explained. “When you win, you’re happy, but you can’t jump and scream because you’re out there by yourself.”

As a Bruin, Bogart is definitely not alone.

“When we beat Clemson (to get to the Final Four), you look around and everyone was screaming and crying we were so happy. It means so much more than anything in tennis.

“I’d never trade this for anything,” she added.

The Bruins’ (18-3-1) incredible run for this year’s NCAA national championship title has been nothing but a team effort, and Bogart has played an instrumental part.

“On the field (Bethany) is a great leader,” Emblem said. “Her competitiveness is contagious and encourages everybody else to be that way.”

Head coach Jill Ellis agreed.

“She’s someone we can’t not have on the field.”

The importance Bogart places on the team, rather than the individual, is evident even in the way she plays.

In 1999, she led the Bruins in assists (7), and this year she already has six, tying her for third on the team, despite the fact that she plays defense.

“I can see her doing well in individual sports because she’s so competitive, but she enjoys being part of the whole,” Ellis said.

So this weekend, when the NCAA title is held up for grabs, Bogart will reach out and take it for the team.

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