UCLA rose to the top slot of the rankings one year ago after taking down the then-top two ranked teams.
The Bruins would hold that top slot for nearly 365 days until Sept. 5 when they would fall from their pedestal, dipping three spots after earning their first loss of the campaign.
No. 4 UCLA women’s soccer (3-1) will face off against Long Beach State (4-2) and Cal State Northridge (0-5-1) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively. The Bruins’ upcoming contests will mark two of the final three games of their nonconference slate.
Graduate student midfielder/forward Sunshine Fontes said the loss to now-No. 1 BYU has shifted the team’s mindset.
“Our loss served as a wake-up call for the entire team,” Fontes said. “Being ranked No. 1 and just having the target on our back, I think we went into some games thinking, ‘We’re just going to win because we’re No. 1.'”
The loss in question was UCLA’s first in over 43 weeks. The Bruins were taken down by the then-No. 7 ranked Cougars on Aug. 31 in a near-shutout win, losing 3-1. The three goals allowed by UCLA were the most single-game goals the program has permitted since 2021.
Junior defender Jayden Perry pointed out the benefits of entering the loss column, saying the Bruins’ two defeats last season served as pivotal moments.
“Everyone loses kind of thing,” Perry said. “But especially for us, especially last year, when we had our two losses versus Stanford and USC, we really battled back. And it kind of just shows you have to prove yourself every single game.”
For UCLA, its first loss last season didn’t come until midway through the Pac-12 slate when it fell to Stanford on the road Oct. 14. In fact, this is the earliest loss the program has faced since 2018.
Although the Bruins’ two losses last season snapped the Pac-12 conference title out of their hands, the program later went on to win the national title. At that, the losses didn’t necessarily spell the direction of the season, as UCLA lost to crosstown rivals USC just one week prior to the opening of the NCAA tournament.
Fontes said the team actually sees the early loss as a positive when compared to losing a match heading into the postseason.
“Obviously it sucks to lose, but I think experiencing a loss at this point in time doesn’t affect us as much as they would in November and December,” Fontes said.
UCLA will be going head-to-head with two unranked squads this weekend. The Bruins have competed against Long Beach nine times, only losing to them once in 2015. And with CSUN, UCLA holds the all-time record at 10-1 in its favor.
As the Bruins begin the march toward their final Pac-12 campaign, coach Margueritte Aozasa said UCLA will be looking to go back to the basics as the squad moves on from its first loss.
“We just need to refine things and clean things up a bit,” Aozasa said. “We need to go back to what has made us successful in the past, which is discipline first.”
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