Bitterness is one of two major flavors served on the postseason menu.
But the Bruins will look to satisfy their sweet tooth with sweet revenge and a Sweet Sixteen bid.
After emerging from a rain-soaked first-round victory at home against Pepperdine, No. 4 seed UCLA women’s soccer (12-5-3, 6-2-3 Big Ten) will clash with No. 5 seed BYU (11-6-5, 4-5-2 Big 12) on Friday afternoon in Palo Alto, California, at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32.
The rematch will give the Bruins another shot at the Cougars after their 1-0 shutout loss at the hands of forward Ellie Walbruch – a former Bruin who was a part of the 2022 national championship squad – on Aug. 23. UCLA only recorded three shots on target out of its 19 attempts throughout the affair. The team is motivated to rewrite the script Friday, said coach Margueritte Aozasa.
“Last time we played BYU, I don’t think we played great, so it would be nice to get a little redemption on that,” Aozasa said.
In their first meeting, the Bruins posted eight more shots than the Cougars but were unable to convert any of those attempts into goals – a pattern that has followed the group throughout the season, contributing to a 1.25 goals per game mark despite 15.2 shots per contest.
But with prior experience against the opponent, UCLA can use hindsight and experience to refine its game plan against BYU.
“Because you’ve faced each other, you do have history,” said freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor. “I think that we can definitely learn from when we played them at BYU and go over that film.”
A total of 17 fouls were committed and four yellow cards were assessed in the regular season contest between the two squads. And the Bruins have continued to bring a physicality of their own, committing 222 fouls throughout the season compared to their opponents’ 175.
And with the elevated stakes of the NCAA tournament, both squads very well may bring heightened aggressiveness, grittiness and physicality.
“They’re fast paced. … We know they’re full of heart, full of belief,” Aozasa said.
The Cougars have already had a dramatic postseason run, claiming the Big 12 tournament title after barely scraping into the tournament, entering as the No. 8 seed. The squad took down No. 1 seed TCU 4-3 in penalty kicks to start the tournament and closed it out with a 1-0 victory against No. 7 seed Kansas.
BYU then narrowly escaped an early exit in the NCAA tournament after clinging on to survive an 11-round penalty shootout in a 1-1 draw against Utah State last Friday.
Meanwhile, UCLA is coming off an explosive 3-1 win of its own, besting Pepperdine in the pouring rain with the final nail in the coffin coming in the final minute of regulation by way of freshman forward Payten Cooper.
“We’ll be prepared for the moment,” Cooper said. “We’ll show up together as a team, and no matter what happens, we’ll walk out together as a team. But we’ll be prepared, and we’ll be ready to play amazing.”
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