EDWARD LIN Tracey Milburn defends the ball against Texas A&M earlier this month. The team heads to Portland today for the NCAA semifinals.

By Jeff Agase

Daily Bruin Contributor



Forget Donnie, Joey, Danny, Jordan and Jon. The Bruins are the real new kids on the block.

The sixth-seeded UCLA women’s soccer team begins its first-ever College Cup today at Spartan Stadium in San Jose in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal match against unseeded Portland.

In the first semifinal of the day, two of the most storied programs in the nation clash, as fifth-seeded North Carolina plays in its 20th consecutive Final Four against top-ranked and undefeated Notre Dame.

After a monumental 2-1 upset of third-ranked Clemson in the quarterfinals last weekend, the Bruins find themselves in truly uncharted territory: the Final Four. Previously, the farthest they advanced to was the quarterfinals in 1997, where they were annihilated by Notre Dame 8-0.

Reactions to the Bruins’ landmark season range from satisfaction to surprise.

“National championships are the standard around here,” UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis said. “That’s some big shoes to fill, but that’s what I wanted when I applied for this job, to win a national championship.

“I’m fortunate to get a great group of people. It’s a good environment to be in.”

Freshman forward Sarah-Gayle Swanson said she always thought the team had the potential for a Final Four.

“I thought it may take a couple of years, but it’s been awesome, better than expected,” she said.

Swanson added that prior to the Clemson game, the seniors on the team came by individually and let her know just what it meant to go to the Final Four.

Such success really should come as no surprise to a team that has been both consistent and prolific. The Bruins notched 14 shutouts in 22 games and registered an 8-0-0 home record. In addition, the squad set new single-season marks for shots, goals, assists, points, and goals against.

Ellis attributes her team’s evolution into an upper-echelon program in just eight seasons to the tremendous resources of California and the building of a foundation by former coaches Joy Fawcett and Todd Saldaña.

“I think what I want to get across is I’ve come into a program that has already had two coaches direct it and affect it in a positive way, and I’m just reaping the benefits of that,” Ellis said.

“Every resource is here. Southern California and all of California is a gold mine of recruiting and you can train all year round. There are so many positives, I thought it was just a matter of time.”

The time is now for the Bruins, and the opponent is the Portland Pilots, an unseeded team from the West Coast Conference. The Pilots advanced to their fifth Final Four by knocking off Pac-10 champion and second-seeded Washington 1-0 in the third round of the NCAA and toppling seventh-seeded Penn State 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Portland head coach Clive Charles has been coaching the Pilot women’s team since 1989. He led the United States men’s Olympic team to the semifinals in the 2000 Sydney games.

“I have tremendous respect for Clive,” Ellis said. “I know they’ll be well-coached and tremendous on set pieces. They play an attractive style of soccer. I think this will be a really good matchup because we like to play soccer – it’s not just a bump-and-run – and so do they.”

The Bruins and Pilots have met only one other time, with UCLA pulling off a 1-0 upset in the first round of the 1997 NCAA tournament.

The presence of three national powerhouses in the semifinals is daunting for the upstart Bruins, but playing in San Jose, hometown of Staci Duncan and Breana and Krista Boling, should provide a hometown advantage. Still, the Bruins are trying to keep their excitement in check.

“I think it will help a lot, especially because a lot of the girls are from up there, but then again it’ll be just another game,” senior Tracey Milburn said.

Just another game.

Right. Like this is just another season.