NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Junior midfielder
Breana Boling fights for the ball against a
California defender on Sunday. UCLA d. Cal, 4-1
UCLA d. Stanford, 5-0
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Contributor
When it rained, it poured this weekend for the UCLA
women’s soccer team.
When all was said and done, the No. 8 Bruins racked up nine
goals in two convincing victories. On Friday night before 674 at
Spaulding Field, UCLA slammed Stanford 5-0. Sunday afternoon the
Bruins beat California 4-1 in a driving rainstorm.
The goal-scoring rampage began in the 23rd minute Friday night
when senior Tracey Milburn fed Venus James with a perfect
left-footed crossing pass that James directed into the net.
The Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into halftime, but James
wasn’t finished. The senior midfielder plowed through two
Cardinal defenders and slid after the ball, driving it past
Stanford goalkeeper Carly Smolak.
“It feels good,” James said of her first goals since
Sept. 3. “I haven’t scored in a while, but as long as
you keep winning and playing well, that’s all that
matters.”
Freshman Lindsay Greco scored off of another Milburn pass just
moments later to put UCLA up 3-0.
The rout was officially on.
Fellow freshman Sarah-Gayle Swanson deflected a corner kick to
score in the 72nd minute and Tracey Winzen did the same in the 86th
minute.
UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis was pleased with her team’s
performance, especially after outplaying but still losing to
Washington, one week before.
“I think it’s a continuation of how we played
against Washington,” she said. “I felt very good and
pleased about how we possessed, how we finished our
chances.”
Ellis instituted a 4-4-2 offense to generate more scoring
opportunities, and it paid off.
“I felt like we play very well with Tracey and Venus
playing wing-mid, playing wide,” Ellis said. “I like
that because they are able to get end-line for us. I think it
allows us to possess a little more.”
The victory was especially sweet for a Bruin squad that suffered
a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Cardinal last season. Milburn
knew the key to a Bruin blowout would be offensive
capitalization.
“For some reason, I had this feeling that we were going to
not just beat them, but beat them by a lot,” she said.
“We finished, which was big. That’s what we
didn’t do against Washington.”
On Sunday, the Golden Bears brought some of the Bay Area
precipitation with them down to Westwood.
The 423 fans in attendance on Senior Day braved the downpour
from the skies, but Cal crumbled in the face of the Bruin
onslaught.
Greco scored the only goal in the first half after junior
Stephanie Rigamat headed a pass up to her through the Cal
defense.
Things got ugly in the second half, both in the sky and on the
field. The play turned sloppy as both teams struggled to put
together scoring chances, but the Bruins came through with two
goals from Rigamat and a game-sealer from Lauren Emblem after the
Bears had pulled within two goals.
After the disappointment of losing to Washington and losing the
chance at a Pac-10 title, Ellis was proud to see her team step
up.
“I got them together at the end of the game and said it
was a huge weekend for us. Two tough teams, two great wins,”
she said.
The Bruins finish out the Pac-10 season next weekend with a trip
to Arizona State and Arizona.