Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Scoring threats lead to victory
WSOCCER:Offense leaders Duncan, Milburn power Bruins to wins
over Washington teams
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Contributor
In years past, teams just had to focus on one player to stop the
UCLA women’s soccer team. If they were able to shut down Traci
Arkenberg, who graduated last year as UCLA’s all-time goal and
point scorer, it was also likely that they would also shut down the
UCLA offense.
This year is a different story.
In the absence of Arkenberg, the team has relied on a two-headed
attack this year. Freshman forward Staci Duncan and sophomore
forward Tracey Milburn have combined to fill the large shoes left
by Arkenberg. Currently, the duo has combined for 14 goals and 35
points in the first 14 games of the season.
"I think we are more of a difficult team to match up against
because we have more than one person that can score goals, UCLA
women’s soccer head coach Todd Saldaña said. "One of our best
attributes is that we are multifaceted whereas last year our
scoring mostly came from Traci."
The duo once again spearheaded the No. 9 UCLA Bruins (12-1-1,
2-0 Pac-10) offensive attack as they combined for four goals over
the weekend helping the Bruins down Washington on Friday, 2-0, and
Washington State on Sunday, 3-0.
The sweep of the Washington schools extended the Bruins winning
streak to 11, one shy of the school record set last year.
One of the main questions heading in to the season, was how to
replace Arkenberg’s firepower. Arkenberg holds virtually all the
offensive records of the program. She finished her memorable Bruin
career as the program’s career leader in points with an astounding
169 points (71 goals and 27 assists).
For perspective, Shannon Thomas is second on the list for career
points in blue and gold with 32, 137 points behind Arkenberg.
One of the big steps to filling the shoes of Arkenberg was the
signing of Duncan. The blue chip recruit from San Jose was every
school’s choice after her prolific high school and club sport
career, a career in which she scored 58 goals in one year alone
(1997).
Saldaña received another prime-time scorer when Milburn
transferred from Pepperdine. The 5’9" forward was Pepperdine’s
second leading scorer with 15 points as a freshmen.
The duo have since combined to help the UCLA women’s soccer team
to one of the best starts in school history. The Duncan-Milburn
combination came up big once again over the weekend.
Duncan was the first to strike over the weekend, ironically it
wasn’t with a goal or an assist.
After Washington (4-6-1) goalie Leslie Weeks shut out the Bruins
in the first half, Duncan accidentally collided with the keeper on
a scoring attempt at the 63rd minute mark of the second half. Weeks
got the worst of the collision, injuring her right knee on the
play. Weeks was forced to sit out the rest of the game.
Since Weeks was the only goalkeeper on the Husky roster,
Washington was forced to play defender Kristin Shaw in goal.
It took just 10 minutes for the Bruins to get one past Shaw.
Duncan lofted a 15-yard shot past the keeper at 74:43 of the second
half. The Duncan-Milburn duo connected for a goal five minutes
later when Milburn scored off a cross from Duncan.
"They take a lot of pressure off each other, Saldaña said.
"Not one player has to be worried about taking the full scoring
load."
This came into play again in the Washington State game. With a
Washington State (3-7-2) team set on stopping Duncan, who came into
the match with a Pac-10 leading 8 goals and six assists (22
points), Milburn took up the scoring load.
But the first goal of the match came from a player not named
Duncan or Milburn. Freshman midfielder Breana Boling scored at the
41:47 mark of the first half.
The Bruins would score again before the first half gun when
Milburn chipped a shot past the Cougar keeper to give the team a
2-0 first half lead.
The Pepperdine transfer would score again later in the second
half when she blasted a goal off a Louise Lieberman pass to put the
game away. Milburn currently has six goals and an assist (13
points) on the year.
In four of the last five games, either Milburn or Duncan have
scored at least one goal.
The scary thing for other teams is that the Duncan-Milburn
combination is so young, making UCLA’s future bright.
"I think in soccer all teams are worried about where their goal
scoring is going to come from," Saldaña said. "I think we put
ourselves in a good spot for the future with Duncan and Milburn. We
can now go out and concerntrate on other parts of our game where
other teams have to worry where their goals will come from."
Something lost in the offensive outbursts of Duncan and Milburn
was the fact that Lindsay Culp and the defense picked up another
two shutouts over the weekend.
The two shutouts over the weekend gave Culp (0.30 goals against
average) an eye-popping 8.5 shutouts on the year, tying a team
record she set last year. Culp is on pace to shatter the record as
the Bruins have seven regular season games left on their
schedule.
BAHMAN FARAHDEL/ Daily Bruin
UCLA senior Louise Lieberman battles a Baylor player in a game
played earlier this year.
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