UCLA
North Carolina
No. 9 UCLA Hosts No. 8 North Carolina Friday
September 07, 2016 | Women's Soccer
#9 UCLA (3-1) vs. #8 North Carolina (4-0-1)
Marshall Field at Drake Stadium
Friday, Sept. 9 - 7 pm PT
Watch: Pac-12 Network (Christian Miles, Tracey Bailey)
Listen: uclabruins.com (Dave Marcus)
Live Stats: uclabruins.com/livestats
Twitter: @uclawsoccer
Tickets: $8 adults/$5 youth
#9 UCLA (3-1) vs. San Diego (2-2-1)
Marshall Field at Drake Stadium
Sunday, Sept. 11 - 5 pm PT
Listen: uclabruins.com (John Ramey)
Live Stats: uclabruins.com/livestats
Twitter: @uclawsoccer
Tickets: $8 adults/$5 youth
Bruins Host Fourth-Straight Top 15 Matchup
No. 9 UCLA (3-1) hosts No. 8 North Carolina (4-0-1) in the Bruins' fourth consecutive matchup against a Top 15 team. The match will take place on Marshall Field at Drake Stadium on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7pm and will be televised live on Pac-12 Network. UCLA is 2-1 in previous Top 15 matchups, defeating No. 11 Texas A&M on the road, 1-0, and No. 13 Penn State at home, 1-0 in overtime. The Bruins' lone loss came at the hands of No. 6 Florida, 4-3 in overtime.
UCLA, UNC Meet Again
UCLA and North Carolina, who have won two of the last four NCAA titles (UCLA in 2013 and UNC in 2012), will be meeting for the fifth time in the last four seasons. North Carolina leads the series 10-1-1 and won the last matchup in Chapel Hill, 4-2. The last meeting in Los Angeles in 2014 resulted in a 0-0 tie. UCLA captured its first series win in 2013 in the NCAA Quarterfinals on a Taylor Smith double overtime goal. That win in Chapel Hill sent the Bruins on to the College Cup, which they went on to win.
Munerlyn to Face Former Team Friday
Senior Amber Munerlyn will see some familiar faces across the field on Friday. Munerlyn, who hails from Corona, Calif., played for the Tar Heels in 2013 and 2014 before transferring to UCLA in 2015. She joins Lauren Kaskie and Darian Jenkins as the only Bruin players who have played in each of the previous four games of the series, but only one has come in a UCLA uniform. She played against the Bruins in the first three matchups, starting and playing 49 minutes in the UNC win in 2013, starting and playing 46 minutes in the UCLA win in 2013, and starting and playing 72 minutes in the 2014 tie. She played 18 minutes in the 2015 match at UNC last season.
In the Rankings
The Bruins moved up two spots to No. 7 in the NSCAA rankings this week. UCLA also moved up from 11th to seventh in the Soccer America poll. The Bruins jumped up 10 spots to 11th in the Top Drawer Soccer poll.
Last Week
Freshman midfielder Jessie Fleming provided the heroics as 11th-ranked UCLA defeated reigning NCAA champion and 13th-ranked Penn State, 1-0 in overtime. The 5-4 Fleming headed home MacKenzie Cerda's corner kick at 98:01 for the golden goal. Freshman goalkeeper Teagan Micah earned her third shutout of the season, making a career-high-tying six saves.
Bruin Pair Honored by Pac-12
For the second time in three weeks, two Bruins earned Pac-12 weekly honors. This time, it was freshman midfielder Jessie Fleming picking up Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors and junior MacKenzie Cerda receiving Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week acclaim. Fleming received her first Pac-12 award after scoring the game-winner to beat Penn State. Cerda picked up her first award after assisting on the game-winner and helping the Bruins record their third shutout in four games. Previously, Darian Jenkins (offensive) and Teagan Micah (goalkeeper) received awards after week one.
Fleming Continues to Impress
It's been an eye-popping first two games for freshman midfielder Jessie Fleming. A week after scoring two goals in her collegiate debut against Florida, Fleming scored the golden goal in overtime to beat No. 13 Penn State. The Olympic bronze medalist is tied for the team lead in goals with three, and she leads the Pac-12 Conference in points per game (3.0) and goals per game (1.5).
Multiple Weapons
UCLA has many options on offense, with 10 players scoring 19 goals in the Bruins' six games played this fall (2-2 exhibition tie vs. BYU, 5-0 win at San Diego State, 7-0 exhibition win over Beijing Normal, 1-0 win at Texas A&M, 3-4 loss to Florida, 1-0 win over Penn State). In regular season play, the Bruins have outscored opponents, 10-4. Darian Jenkins leads the team with three goals and an assist. Jessie Fleming has three goals, Amber Munerlyn has one goal and one assist, and three other players - Julia Hernandez, Annie Alvarado and Chloe Castaneda have one goal apiece. Anika Rodriguez, MacKenzie Cerda and Zoey Goralski lead the team in assists with two each.
Bruin Strong
Eight Bruins have logged over 300 of 374 minutes of playing time in the Bruins' four games so far this season. Goalkeeper Teagan Micah has played in all 374, while defenders MacKenzie Cerda and Kaiya McCullough have played in all but 10 minutes each. Zoey Goralski has logged 362 minutes, Hailie Mace 345, Claire Winter 340, Anika Rodriguez 334, and Annie Alvarado 301.
Fresh Faces
Three freshmen have started for the Bruins in each of their first four games - goalkeeper Teagan Micah, defender Kaiya McCullough and midfielder Anika Rodriguez. All three played big roles in the season opening victory at San Diego State, as Micah posted the shutout, and McCullough and Rodriguez each earned an assist. Also making their UCLA debuts at San Diego State were sophomore Julia Hernandez, who started both matches; freshmen Jacey Pederson and Sunny Dunphy; redshirt freshman Chloe Castaneda and redshirt sophomore Chloe Hemingway. Freshman Jessie Fleming made her debut against Florida and earned her first start against Penn State.
About the Tar Heels
North Carolina enters the week with a 4-0-1 record after going 1-0-1 last weekend at the Duke Nike Classic. The Tar Heels tied Duke 0-0 on Friday and beat Villanova 2-0 on Sunday. Zoe Redei leads UNC in scoring with three goals. Goalkeeper Lindsey Harris has three solo and one shared shutout in five games. The Tar Heels are coached by Anson Dorrance, who has led UNC to 21 NCAA titles.
About the Toreros
San Diego will host DePaul on Thursday before visiting the Bruins on Sunday. The Toreros enter the week with a 2-2-1 record and are coming off a 2-0 win over San Diego State and 0-0 tie with Cal State Northridge over the weekend. Jacqueline Altschuld leads USD in scoring with two goals and one assist. Goalkeeper Amber Michel has three shutouts and a 0.94 goals against average.
Jenkins Gets First UCLA Hat Trick Since Leroux
Senior forward Darian Jenkins scored three goals in an eight-minute span in the first half to propel UCLA to a 5-0 victory over San Diego State in the season opener. Her hat trick was the first by a Bruin since Sydney Leroux scored three vs. Colorado on Oct. 28, 2011, and it earned her Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week acclaim.
True Freshman Gets Opening Day Nod in Goal
Australian goalkeeper Teagan Micah became the first UCLA true freshman to start in goal on opening day since Valerie Henderson in 2004. Micah got the clean sheet in the Bruins' first two games and earned Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week honors Aug. 23. She currently ranks second in the Pac-12 in saves per game with an average of 4.75.
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).
Four Prior NCAA Champions to Visit Westwood
Four previous NCAA champions will visit UCLA this season, including three consecutive matches against 1998 champion Florida (Aug. 28), defending champion Penn State (Sept. 2) and 21-time NCAA champion North Carolina (Sept. 9). Also visiting UCLA is 2011 champion Stanford (Oct. 9). UCLA is also part of the champions club, having won in 2013.
Crosstown Showdown Moved to StubHub Center
The highly-anticipated Nov. 4 crosstown showdown between UCLA and USC has been moved from McAlister Field on the USC campus to the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. The match will kick off at 7:00 pm and will be televised live on Pac-12 Network. Both UCLA (ranked as high as No. 7 by Soccer America) and USC (ranked as high as No. 16 by Top Drawer Soccer) are currently ranked in the Top 25. The series between the two teams has averaged over 8,000 fans in the last two years, with an NCAA record 10,128 on hand at the Coliseum in 2014 to see the Bruins defeat the Trojans, 2-0, to capture the Pac-12 title outright.
UCLA Olympians
UCLA had six Bruins in Rio for the Olympics this summer, including bronze medalist Jessie Fleming (Canada) and semifinalist Aline Reis (Brazil). Fleming, an incoming freshman, started six matches for Team Canada and recorded one assist. Reis, the Bruins' goalkeeper coach, started and played in one game for Team Brazil, posting 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.
