It was only fitting, perhaps, that Lauren Barnes emerged the heroine on Sunday afternoon.
On a day when all eight senior members of the UCLA women’s soccer team were honored before the last home game of the regular season, the senior defender heeded the call of coach Jillian Ellis, who decided to move her star senior up front at the forward position in an effort to generate more offensive power.
And suffice it to say, the unusual move paid dividends.
With her team reeling from a three-game losing streak, Barnes lifted the Bruins out of the funk with the go-ahead goal in the 23rd minute, as UCLA (10-7-1, 3-4 Pac-10) defeated Washington State (6-13-1, 1-7) 2-0 at Drake Stadium after losing 1-0 to Washington (11-7-1, 4-4) on Friday. It had been four games ago that the Bruins had last scored a goal, giving way for an opportune time for Barnes ““ usually known as a defensive stalwart in the backline ““ to net her fourth goal of the season, with the team playing in a 4-3-3 formation instead of the usual 4-4-2.
“She’s such a dynamic attacking player and we wanted to generate opportunities, so I thought, “˜At this point, let’s give it a go,'” Ellis said of Barnes. “So we changed up our system, put (Barnes) up high on the field and it paid off.”
The goal came about after junior midfielder Charney Burk headed the ball out to a running Barnes, who found just enough daylight from the top of the box to fire a shot into the lower right corner of the post.
“I was just so excited to be up there,” Barnes said. “I’ve been playing as a left back forever and I love it, but it was such a good change of pace, and I just knew I had to bring energy. I think going up one goal gave us so much confidence with the shooting.”
UCLA scored an insurance goal in the 60th minute after senior forward Iman Bearde fed the ball to sophomore forward Zakiya Bywaters, who sent a well-placed cross from the far right side to freshman midfielder Jenna Richmond inside the box. Richmond then headed the ball into the net to put the Bruins up 2-0.
Also making an impressive showing was redshirt junior goalkeeper Chante’ Sandiford, who was kept on her toes on several occasions, even with UCLA holding possession for a majority of the match. In the 80th minute, Washington State’s Mariah Cameron rifled a long-range shot from outside the box, only to have Sandiford leap up and punch the ball away from the post for her third save of the game.
“The most important thing with slow games like this is to make sure that I keep talking and just keep myself engaged in the game,” Sandiford said. “It’s so easy to just lay back and think that everything is OK. I basically had to keep communicating and keep moving.”
With the key win, the Bruins managed to salvage a weekend that began with Friday’s loss to the Huskies, as well as a revival pulse just in time for the final two-game stretch of the season.