Second Consecutive Loss For The Bruins
Soccer News: A late UCLA Women’s Soccer rally fell short on Sunday night as Texas held on to defeat the 14th-ranked Bruins, 2-1, at Drake Stadium. Down 2-0, the Bruins rallied to pull to within one in the 76th minute after a goal by Lauren Kaskie but could not find the equalizer before time expired.
Texas (2-2-1) jumped out to an early 1-0 on a goal by Kelsey Shimmick at 3:08. Ali Schmalz started the play with a takeaway in the back, and she sent a perfectly-placed through ball to Shimmmick, who slotted it past UCLA goalkeeper Cassie Sternbach.
The Longhorns doubled their lead at 60:51 on an empty net goal by Alexa Adams. After a long ball was sent into the box, Sternbach went off her line to retrieve and was met by Adams and Miranda, who made contact with each other while going after the ball. Miranda fell into Sternbach, knocking her down and leaving the goal vulnerable, while Adams stayed on her feet and shot near post to score.
Kaskie got the Bruins halfway back to a comeback with a goal at 75:19, going far post from long distance on a give-and-go with Taylor Smith after a corner kick. The goal was Kaskie’s first of the year and second of her career.
The Bruins (2-3-0) kept the pressure on, looking for the equalizer. Kodi Lavrusky had a good look in the box in the 80th minute, but Texas goalkeeper Abby Smith made a kick save to prevent the goal. Darian Jenkins put a shot high in the 82nd, and Hailie Mace went wide in the 84th. Taylor Smith made a good run with a minute and a half to play, but her shot went wide. The Bruins got one more chance in the final 30 seconds and got the ball across the goal before it was cleared out by Texas. Mace collected the ball at the 18 and fired away with 15 seconds left, but Abby Smith was there to make her 11th and final save.
UCLA outshot Texas in the game, 21-8, and recorded a season-high 12 shots on goal, but Abby Smith made big saves throughout the game to keep the Bruins at bay.
UCLA played the game without head coach Amanda Cromwell, who had to sit out after receiving two yellow cards in the previous game against Virginia.
“It was difficult,” said assistant coach Joshua Walters. “Amanda is the backbone and the lifeblood of this program, and she came in her first year and won the national championship. Her voice is big on the sidelines. We definitely missed her presence there. But she trained them all week; they were prepared, the coaching staff was prepared, so I felt like the game plan went as we thought it would go. I just wish we would have gotten the result.”
Despite being handed a second consecutive loss, the team remains optimistic. “All of our goals as a team are still in front of us,” Walters said. “Everything we want to accomplish as a team is still there. There were some big positives to take out of this, but we’ve got to find a way to figure out how to get that result in that game. We felt like we were the better team, and we created a ton of chances and had the most shots on goal that we’ve had all year, but we’ve got to figure out how to keep them out of the other end.”
The Bruins will next travel to North Carolina to visit Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 11 and North Carolina on Sunday, Sept. 13.
