UCLA
San Diego State
Women's Soccer Opens 2016 Season at SDSU Friday
August 18, 2016 | Women's Soccer
UCLA at San Diego State
@ SDSU Sports Deck
Friday, Aug. 19 - 7:00 pm PT
Live Stream - themw.com
Live Stats - goaztecs.com
Twitter - @uclawsoccer
Tickets: Free Admission
UCLA vs. Beijing Normal (exhibition)
Marshall Field at Drake Stadium
Monday, Aug. 22 - 7:00 pm PT
TV: Pac-12 Networks (JB Long, Tammy Blackburn)
Live Stats - uclabruins.com/livestats
Twitter - @uclawsoccer
Tickets: Free Admission
UCLA Opens 2016 Season at San Diego State
UCLA opens the 2016 season at San Diego State on Friday, Aug. 19 at 7pm. The match will take place at the SDSU Sports Deck on the San Diego State campus. Admission is free.
Following Friday's opener, the Bruins will host Beijing Normal in an exhibition on Monday, Aug. 22 at 7pm on Marshall Field at Drake Stadium. Admission is free, and the match will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
A Look at the Bruins
UCLA is looking to rebound after a rebuilding 2015 season that saw the Bruins go 8-10-1 after losing nine starters to graduation. Eight starters return for UCLA in 2016: goalkeeper Siri Ervik; defenders Zoey Goralski, Hailie Mace and MacKenzie Cerda; midfielders Annie Alvarado, Lauren Kaskie and Claire Winter; and forward Darian Jenkins. Cerda started at forward last season but has moved into a left back role. Alvarado and Jenkins are two of four team captains, along with seniors Gabbi Miranda and Courtney Proctor.
Two key Bruins are back in the mix after redshirting the 2015 season - forward/midfielder Anika Rodriguez and midfielder Chloe Castaneda. Rodriguez spent the summer leading SoCal Blues to the US Youth Soccer National Championship, and Castaneda earned United Women's Soccer West Conference Player of the Year honors while leading the Santa Clarita Blue Heat to the UWS Championship.
Another important member of the SC Blue Heat was sophomore forward Julia Hernandez, who joined the Bruins in the spring quarter after transfering from Eastern Florida State College. Hernandez was the UWS Championship MVP, scoring both goals in the Blue Heat's 2-1 overtime victory.
UCLA also brings in the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class, led by Canadian Olympic team starter Jessie Fleming, U.S. Olympic team starter Mal Pugh and U.S. Youth National Team members Marley Canales, Jacey Pederson, Sunny Dunphy and Kaiya McCullough.
International Bruins
UCLA has five international players on its roster this season, all from different countries. Siri Ervik is the lone upperclassman of the group, having arrived from Norway in 2014. The other four are freshmen - Jessie Fleming from Canada, Julia Hernandez from Spain, Teagan Micah from Australia, and Maki Umehara from Japan. Hernandez and Umehara both went to school in the United States (Hernandez played one year at Eastern Florida State College in 2015, and Umehara was born in New York and played at Scarsdale HS in New York in 2012).
In the Rankings
The Bruins are ranked No. 17 in Soccer America's preseason poll and receiving votes in the NSCAA Coaches poll. UCLA is also listed under consideration in the Top Drawer Soccer preseason poll. The Pac-12 coaches picked the Bruins to finish fourth in the conference. UCLA received two first place votes in the preseason poll.
UCLA in Season Openers
UCLA is 16-6-1 all-time in season openers and has won five of the last six. This is the second consecutive year UCLA has opened the season on the road. Last season, the Bruins lost at Long Beach State, 1-0.
Four Previous NCAA Champions to Visit Westwood
Four previous NCAA champions will visit UCLA this season, including three consecutive matches against 1998 champion Florida, defending champion Penn State and 21-time NCAA champion North Carolina. UCLA is also part of the champions club, having won in 2013.
Scouting the Aztecs
Defending Mountain West regular season champion San Diego State finished the 2015 season with a 15-4-1 record and enter 2016 on a 12-match unbeaten streak, the third-longest streak in program history. The Aztecs also boast a 12-match unbeaten streak at the Sports Deck, where they have not been beaten since Oct. 31., 2014. With eight returning starters, including six All-Mountain West honorees, the Aztecs are picked to finish first in the Mountain West Conference.
Rodriguez, Fleming Named to TDS Preseason Freshman XI Team
UCLA freshmen Anika Rodriguez and Jessie Fleming were selected to Top Drawer Soccer's Preseason Freshman XI Team. Rodriguez, who redshirted last year after suffering a knee injury during her high school season, is a veteran of the U.S. Youth National Team program and played in the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championships. Fleming has been a standout for Team Canada at the Olympics, starting every game and recording an assist in the opening game. A member of the full national team since she was 15 years old, Fleming has played in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and was the Golden Ball winner at the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championships.
Two Seniors Recognized by Top Drawer Soccer
Two Bruins are on Top Drawer Soccer's preseason Top 100 list - No. 76 Darian Jenkins and No. 91 Annie Alvarado. Jenkins earned NSCAA third-team All-America honors in 2013 and was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. In her career, she has totaled 22 goals and nine assists for 53 points. Alvarado is a three-year starter and two-year team captain who has started 41 of 42 games in the last two seasons, compiling four goals and four assists.
Last Time Out
UCLA tied No. 16 BYU, 2-2, in the exhibition opener on Aug. 13. Annie Alvarado and Zoey Goralski each scored for the Bruins, with Goralski adding an assist as well. UCLA took the early lead in the seventh minute on Alvarado's goal before BYU's Nadia Gomes scored twice to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead in the 23rd minute. Just two minutes later, however, Julia Hernandez sent a pass to Goralski, who one-timed a lob over the BYU goalkeeper and into the back of the net for the tying goal. Freshman goalkeeper Teagan Micah kept a clean sheet in the second half, and BYU keeper Rachel Boaz stopped a Hernandez shot in the closing minute.
UCLA starters for the exhibition opener were Siri Ervik, Annie Alvarado, Chloe Castaneda, Kaiya McCullough, Gabbi Miranda, Julia Hernandez, Darian Jenkins, Anika Rodriguez, MacKenzie Cerda, Hailie Mace and Zoey Goralski.
UCLA Olympians
UCLA had six Bruins in Rio for the Olympics this summer, including semifinalists Jessie Fleming (Canada) and Aline Reis (Brazil), who will play for a bronze medal on Friday. Fleming, an incoming freshman, started five matches for Team Canada and recorded one assist. Reis, the Bruins' goalkeeper coach, started and played in one game for Team Brazil and posted a shutout against South Africa in group play. Former UCLA head coach Jill Ellis selected two Bruins for Team USA - incoming freshman Mal Pugh, who played in three games with two starts and became the youngest player in U.S. Soccer history to score a goal, and alternate Sam Mewis. Rounding out the Bruin contingent in Rio was two-time New Zealand Olympian Rosie White, who played in two of three games for the Football Ferns.
UCLA Head Coach Amanda Cromwell
Amanda Cromwell, the 2013 Soccer America National Coach of the Year, returns for her fourth season in Westwood and 20th year overall as a head coach. One would be hard-pressed to find a coach who made as big of an impact in her first season as Cromwell. Eight months after being hired on Apr. 12, 2013 as the fifth head coach in UCLA women's soccer history, Cromwell led her team to the program's first-ever NCAA Championship, and her teams have won 51 games and two Pac-12 team titles over three seasons.
With 274 career victories and a .697 winning percentage at the close of the 2015 season, Cromwell currently ranks among the top-25 winningest coaches in NCAA history.
Looking Ahead
Following the Friday match at San Diego State and Monday exhibition against Beijing Normal, the Bruins will travel to College Station, Texas for a non-conference matchup against the preseason No. 8 Texas A&M team. The match will be broadcast on SEC Network +.
Bruins on Pac-12 Networks
UCLA will have a 11 games televised on the Pac-12 Networks, beginning with Monday's exhibition match against Beijing Normal and concluding with the final regular season contest at USC on Nov. 4.
