Arielle Ship Nets Hat Trick and Emily Boyd Sets Shutout Record In Program’s Biggest Pac-12 Win
Name a record and there is a chance it fell Thursday afternoon as No. 20 California destroyed UCLA, 7-0, at Edwards Stadium in what was the biggest conference victory in California history.
Soccer News: Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate and potential All-American Arielle Ship scored her second hat trick of the season and added an assist to lead the California (13-4-2, 6-3-0 Pac-12) attack to a seven-goal victory against UCLA (8-8-1, 4-4-1 Pac-12). The victory matched the 1991 Cal squad that earned a 7-0 win against Oregon State on Sept. 21, 1991 for the biggest conference win.
Sophomore Emily Boyd etched her name in the Cal record book by earning her 11th shutout of the season, matching the California single-season mark that was last set in 1996 by Karen Cook. Boyd also improved to a perfect 3-for-3 against penalty kicks this season after UCLA’s Annie Alvarado missed her attempt in the 59th minute.
The victory was also Cal’s first over the Bruins since the 2004 season as Cal used a relentless second-half scoring attack to break open a game that was a close 1-0 lead at halftime.
California opened a tight first half with Ship’s goal at 40:40 that was assisted by Karly Graf, the senior defender who has now had a hand in each of Cal’s last two game-winning goals.
The Bears jumped out quickly in the second half when a cross by Heather Walleigh deflected off the foot of UCLA defender Reema Bzeih into the net for an own goal at 48:08. From that point on the floodgates opened with the Bears did not let 10 minutes go between goals for their next five tallies.
Ifeoma Onumonu earned her third of the season with an assist from Ship in the 51st. Ship then added her second of the game after forcing a turnover in the attacking third and calmly sending it past the keeper to make it 4-0 California in the 61st.
Ship completed the hat trick in the 67th after a shot by Walleigh was saved directly into Ship’s path for an easy strike.
“We moved the ball well,” Ship said of what worked for the Bears. “We were patient and really stepped on the gas the second half scoring-wise. We just kept pushing and kept going for more.”
Celeste Boureille added another in the 76th with assists from Walleigh and Lynsey Hromatko, and Walleigh was rewarded for her outstanding play with her first career goal in the 77th for the 7-0 victory.
“This was one of our first games that everything clicked and we had it going,” Walleigh said. “It was really awesome to score the seventh goal. I celebrated like it was the World Cup. It was just such a good feeling.”
Both teams play this Sunday, November 1: UCLA plays at No. 4 Stanford at 3:30pm and California plays USC at 1pm at home. Both matches will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
