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UCLA'S ALL-TIME RECORDS AND FINISHES The Bruin program is only eight years old. Year   Conference Record   National Finish   1993 10-6-1 --- 1994 11-4-3 --- 1995 14-4-2 T-17 1996 11-7-1 --- 1997 19-3-0 T-5 1998 17-4-1 T-17 1999 15-5-1 T-9 Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN Web adaptation by MICHAEL PARKER

By Amanda Fletcher

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Junior defender Bethany Bogart tells a story of the first time the team met current head coach Jill Ellis almost two years ago.

“The first day that she came she asked, ‘What goals do you have?’ When we said ‘Final Four’ she said, ‘No, a national championship.’”

Heading into the Final Four weekend, the Bruins are closer to that goal than they’ve ever been before.

After nearly four months of play, only four teams remain in the running for the women’s soccer College Cup: Notre Dame (23-0-1), North Carolina (19-3), Portland (18-3) and UCLA (18-3-1).

For most women’s soccer aficionados, the name UCLA doesn’t seem like it should be on the same list as the rest of the Final Four teams. Many wouldn’t even put the Bruins in the same class as the Tar Heels or the Fighting Irish, and it’s not hard to see why.

Coming up on the end of its eighth season, the UCLA women’s soccer team is a relatively young program, especially compared to their Final Four foes.

This year marks only the fifth time UCLA has appeared in the postseason tournament and the first time it has made it to the Final Four. Compare that to North Carolina’s 15 national championship titles, and the Bruins are nothing more than cubs in this stage of the game.

But don’t tell them that.

“Even though we’re only eight years old, we’re a program that’s had success,” Ellis said. “Even though we’ve never been to the Final Four, we’ve played 20-odd games this season. We have talent – we have the drive to win.”

But will talent and drive be enough to dethrone the mighty titans who have dominated women’s college soccer for so long?

There is one school that has been synonymous with winning since the first NCAA women’s soccer final 20 years ago – the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Having boasted players such as Mia Hamm, Tisha Venturini, Cindy Parlow and Lorrie Fair, the Tar Heels have won 15 of 19 NCAA championship titles. Under head coach Anson Dorrance, who coached the U.S. national team when it won its first World Cup in 1991, the Tar Heels set records that may never be broken.

For example, from Nov. 24, 1985 to Sept. 22, 1990, North Carolina didn’t lose a single game, amassing an unbeaten streak of 103 games. During this time the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the ISAA poll every week for four straight years.

“They have tremendous tradition on their side,” Ellis said. “But as a team it ultimately comes down to 90 minutes and you can put tradition and everything else on the shelf.”

Senior midfielder Venus James doesn’t put much stock in tradition either.

“Just because a team’s been there all the time, doesn’t mean someone else can’t come in and take it away,” she said.

UNC may have built a dynasty, but many believe it’s not the unbeatable program it once was.

“We think of North Carolina as the perennial powerhouse who for so long defined college soccer,” junior defender Bethany Bogart said. “But the past couple of years there’s been so much more parity. Things are becoming more equal.

“They helped establish women’s soccer and they’re a respectable team, but nothing to be afraid of,” she added.

One of the few teams that have challenged the mighty Tar Heel dynasty is its first Final Four opponent, Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish is the team that kept UNC from their one and only championship game when they beat them in the semifinals, in 1995. Graduating five starters last season, this was supposed to be the Irish’s rebuilding year.

“They’re sort of a surprise, I think. They graduated so much talent,” Ellis said.

But as the only unbeaten team left in the nation, Notre Dame also boasts the No. 1 defense. UCLA is No. 2

“They’re having a great season,” Bogart said.

Even Portland is more experienced than the Bruins, this year marking their fifth appearance in the Final Four.

But the Bruins don’t believe they’re out of their league.

“There’s not any team that’s unbeatable when we’re playing a full 90 minutes at our best,” Bogart said.

James agrees that UCLA is definitely on their way to becoming one of the nation’s best.

“Each year we’ve been establishing ourself more and more. Now people recognize we’re a quality program,” she said.

But are they No. 1?

The first time Ellis met the UCLA women’s soccer team, she told them to win a national championship.

“Some think it’s bold or arrogant and kinda crazy,” Ellis said. “But if you put it on the table, now you’re accountable for that.”

“I think my players have bought into each other and their abilities and they’re reaping the benefits.”

WOMEN'S SOCCER Original Graphic By CONNIE WU/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web Adaptation By AVISHAI SHRAGA/Daily Bruin Senior Staff