The Bruins waited until the second half to open the flood gates.
Then, they didn’t let up.
No. 5 UCLA women’s soccer (9-1-1, 6-1-0 Pac-12) handed Washington State (5-2-1, 1-1-1) a 4-0 loss on Friday night in Los Angeles. The Bruins scored four times in the first 35 minutes of the second period to claim their sixth shutout victory of the season.
“Zero-zero at halftime is not comfortable for anyone,” said coach Amanda Cromwell. “At halftime, it’s like all right, time to score – right now. And, we picked it up from there.”
Despite seven shots from UCLA and four from Washington State, and several close calls for both teams, neither team recorded a corner kick or scored a goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Sophomore forward Mia Fishel said the team regrouped after the first half and entered the second frame confidently.
“We were dominating the game in the whole first half,” Fishel said. “We just weren’t able to create – we needed to possess with a purpose. We talked about it and in the second half we were able to do just that.”
Fishel scored the first goal of the game 1:01 after play was resumed after the half with a header that was fed to her from the far right corner by senior midfielder Delanie Sheehan.
The Bruins doubled their lead less than four minutes later when Fishel and freshman forward Kaila Novak combined to assist freshman forward Reilyn Turner in finding the back of the net for the sixth time this year.
“Kaila, Mia and I had never played together before this season,” Turner said. “We’ve been working off the field to get more comfortable playing together, and I think this is proof. You can tell.”
Turner increased her team-best goal count to seven later in the half when she went one-on-one with Cougar goalkeeper Marissa Zucchetto. She was briefly challenged by an unsuccessful slide tackle attempt but evaded the defender and slotted home to stretch the lead to three.
The freshman is tied for third in the Pac-12 in goals and fourth in points this season. She leads UCLA in both categories.
Turner said she hopes the win will carry beyond the stats sheet.
“Especially coming off of a tie and a loss in our last two games, we were hungry to not only get a win but to make a statement,” Turner said. “We weren’t doing so hot, and we needed tonight to get it going again.”
The Bruins completed their run when redshirt freshman forward Sunshine Fontes found the back of the net with a blast from the outer corner of the penalty box that soared past the Cougar defense and Zucchetto.
UCLA totaled 17 shots in the match, nine of which were on goal and four of which were converted, while Washington State recorded 15 shots, five on goal.
The blue and gold will play its last home game of the year Sunday against Washington, which suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of USC on Friday night.
“We’re going to build on this win,” Cromwell said. “Next, we’re going to aim for a shutout. (Washington) is going to be desperate, so we’re going to try to score early and keep everyone on their heels.”
