UCLA kicks off first round v. LMU

Eric Perez
Published: Friday, November 15, 2002

The No. 3 UCLA women’s soccer team’s quest for an NCAA championship begins tonight at Drake Stadium when they take on Loyola Marymount.

UCLA (16-3, 8-1 Pac-10) has never lost to LMU, beating them all seven times they have played, including a 3-2 come-from-behind victory earlier this year. The Bruins, as one might expect, refuse to look past the Lions (10-6-3, 3-3-1 WCC).

“We have to come focused and ready to play; once you have beaten a team during the season, you have to get mentally prepared to beat them again,” UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis said. “That’s going to be our main focus this weekend, we’re just going to focus on the first game. Loyola Marymount gave us a difficult game earlier this year. The emphasis is on us trying to play well.”

Though the Bruins finished second to top-ranked Stanford in the regular Pac-10 season, they drew a No. 7 seed in the 64-team field. For a team that finished third in two major national polls and finished the season with a seven game winning streak, a No.7 seed was a bit surprising.

“It was kind of shocking that we got a number seven seed,” senior Tracey Winzen said. “I’m not disappointed because I think it will be a tough bracket, but I think it will be awesome to prove that we could go through that hard bracket and get to the Final Four.”

All that talk is fine, and could make for something quite rewarding, but the pavement is poor on the Bruins’ road to the Final Four. Looming as a possible pothole is a quarterfinal matchup against North Carolina. The No. 2 Tar Heels have won 16 NCAA titles in the last 21 years. Their most recent title came in 2000, when they defeated the Bruins, 2-1, in the NCAA Finals.

“Our strategy right now is to play one game at a time. Obviously we’re aware that we could potentially meet UNC in the quarterfinals and if that comes, then we’ll accept that challenge, but we won’t get there if we don’t beat LMU Friday,” freshman midfielder Jill Oakes said.

Should the Bruins defeat the Lions, they will then face the winner of the USC-University of San Diego match.

A tough bracket, the pressure of a single elimination tournament, and even a possible second round matchup with a cross-town rival, has Ellis believing that the best is yet to come from her young team.

“In a sense I feel like this team responds better to the big games. The better the competition we play, the more pressure, the better we play,” Ellis said. “So I think they understand what’s at stake. We obviously looked down the line at our bracket, but our goal is to get past the first two rounds.”