UCLA
Arizona State
Top-Ranked Bruins Travel to Arizona
October 04, 2017 | Women's Soccer
No. 1 UCLA (10-0-1, 3-0-0) at Arizona State (3-5-2, 0-2-0)
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 – 7 p.m. (PT)
Tempe, Ariz. (Sun Devil Soccer Stadium)
Live Stream: http://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university
Live Stats: thesundevils.com
No. 1 UCLA (10-0-1, 3-0-0) at Arizona (5-3-2, 2-1-0)
Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017 – 12 p.m. (PT)
Tucson, Ariz. (Mulcahy Stadium)
Live Stream: http://pac-12.com/live/university-arizona-2
Live Stats: arizonawildcats.com
BRUINS TRAVEL TO ARIZONA SCHOOLS
Top-ranked UCLA (10-0-1, 3-0-0 in the Pac-12) will put its perfect Pac-12 record on the line this week in a pair of road matches at the Arizona schools. The weekend starts with a Thursday, Oct. 5 contest at Arizona State at 7 p.m. PT and concludes with a Sunday, Oct. 8 matchup at Arizona at noon PT. Both matches will be live streamed.
UCLA REMAINS ATOP NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the fifth week in a row, UCLA holds tight at No. 1 across all national polls. The Bruins are in their sixth week as the top-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches national rankings and their fifth atop the Soccer America and Top Drawer Soccer rankings. UCLA's last foray at the top of the rankings came in 2014, when the Bruins spent the entire regular season ranked No. 1.
STILL UNBEATEN
UCLA is one of just three teams in NCAA Division I who remain unbeaten. The other unbeatens after Sunday's play are Texas (11-0-1) and Milwaukee (11-0-2). The Bruins have a 15-game unbeaten streak dating back to last season.
MACE NAMED PAC-12 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK
Junior Hailie Mace earned her second Pac-12 honor of the season, being named the Offensive Player of the Week. Mace, who was also selected the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week, totaled three goals and an assist last week against Oregon and Oregon State. She scored a first-half goal against Oregon in a 2-0 win on Thursday and scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, in the first six minutes of play in the 4-1 win over Oregon State. Mace also added an assist on UCLA's third goal of the half. She is now tied for the Pac-12 lead in goals scored with nine.
MATULICH EARNS WEEKLY HONORS
Senior defender Gabrielle Matulich was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week on Tuesday for her performance over the weekend. After contributing to a UCLA shutout on Thursday against Oregon, she netted a goal and recorded an assist in the 4-1 victory over Oregon State on Sunday. Matulich has scored two goals this season and added four assists.
CROMWELL CLOSES IN ON 300
UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell is one win away from reaching 300 career victories. The native of Annandale, Va. is in her sixth season at UCLA and has picked up 76 wins with the Bruins, including the 2013 national championship. Before coming to Westwood, she spent 14 season at Central Florida, where she collected 203 victories, and also coached at UMBC for two years, where she totaled 20 wins. Cromwell currently ranks among the top-25 winningest active coaches and the top-30 all-time winningest coaches in NCAA history.
MACE SETS THE PACE
Junior forward Hailie Mace continues to pace UCLA in the scoring column, leading the team in points (21) and goals (9), both career-high totals for the former defender. On Aug. 24, Mace recorded a first half hat trick, the 26th hat trick in UCLA women's soccer history, in the 4-2 win over Santa Clara. She also added a brace against Oregon State, scoring two goals in just over six minutes.
SANCHEZ STEALS SHOW
Freshman Ashley Sanchez has been on a scoring tear in the Bruins' last five games, having scored or recorded an assist in four of the last five games. At Virginia on Sept. 7, she scored the game's first goal and assisted on the game-winner and was subsequently named Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week, and at Colorado on Sept. 22, she scored the game-winner and assisted on the second goal. Sanchez now ranks second on the team in in points with 13 and is first in the Pac-12 with seven assists and third in the nation in assists per game with 0.70.
HIGH FIVE FOR HERNANDEZ
Junior forward Julia Hernandez sits behind Hailie Mace atop the team leaderboard in goals (five) and third in points (10). Hernandez has scored her five goals in just 238 minutes of play, an average of one goal per 47 minutes.
FLEMING AMONG NATION'S ASSIST LEADERS
Sophomore midfielder Jessie Fleming ranks 19th in the nation in assists with six, already one more than her season total a year ago. Four of her six assists were on game-winning goals. She also scored the game-winning goal in the Bruins' season-opening win against San Diego State. The Canadian National Team star was the Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week on opening weekend after recording two goals and three assists in the first two games.
MICAH HITS CENTURY MARK
Sophomore goalkeeper Teagan Micah surpassed the century mark for career saves and now has 117 in her career. She posted a season-best six saves in the Bruins' shutout win at BYU and four in the win at Virginia, including a huge stop in the final minute to prevent overtime. Micah has recorded four shutouts this season and has 13 in her brief Bruin career, ranking ninth all-time at UCLA.
SETTING CAREER HIGHS
A number of Bruins have already set career-highs this season through the first nine matches. Junior Hailie Mace did not score a goal coming into this season and already has nine and has also tied her career-high with three assists. Sophomore Julia Hernandez netted just one goal in her first season in Westwood in 2016 but now has five. Jessie Fleming's six assists this season are already a career-high. Also, Gabrielle Matulich has set a career-best in points with eight, surpassing her three points from last year, while MacKenzie Cerda has tied a career-high with six points.
FRESH FACES
UCLA's freshman class has already made a big impact, with seven freshmen earning starting positions in at least one game so far this season. Karina Rodriguez has started in 10 games. Delanie Sheehan and Ashley Sanchez have started in nine games, Viviana Villacorta five, Olivia Athens two, and Marley Canales and Kennedy Faulknor one each. Sanchez ranks second on the team in scoring with 13 points and first in assists with seven. She and Sheehan rank third on the team in goals scored with three apiece. Athens and Villacorta each have three assists. Rodriguez is second among field players with 855 minutes played. Additionally, Canales has played in nine games, and Faulknor made her UCLA debut in a starting role at Weber State and has played in five games.
SUPER SENIORS
With an underclassman-heavy squad and just eight upperclassmen, the Bruins are leaning on the experience of the senior class, particularly fifth-year seniors Zoey Goralski and Claire Winter. The duo, who are the last remaining players from UCLA's 2013 NCAA Championship team, serve as team co-captains, along with Jessie Fleming. Both Goralski and Winter have played in every game, with Goralski earning 10 starts and Winter six.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State comes into Thursday's matchup with a 1-1-1 mark in the Pac-12 and 4-5-2 overall after drawing with No. 11 California, 1-1, and losing to second-ranked Stanford, 6-0. Goalkeeper Nicole Panas is second in the Pac-12 in saves (47) and saves per game (4.7), including leading the Pac-12 in conference play with 22 saves. Offensively, ASU is led by Jemma Purfield with a team-best three goals and three assists as eight Sun Devil players have registered goals this season.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Arizona enters the week 5-3-2 overall and 2-1-0 in the Pac-12. The Wildcats lost a close 1-0 decision to No. 2 Stanford on Thursday but upset No. 11 California, 1-0, on Sunday. Arizona is led by goalkeeper Lainey Burdett, who has a 0.67 goals against average with four shutouts. Gabi Stoian and Samantha Falasco lead the offensive squad with two goals apiece, and Cali Crisler has five assists.
LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP
The top-ranked Bruins picked up a pair of convincing home victories to stay unbeaten in 2017. On Thursday, UCLA defeated Oregon, 2-0, as Anika Rodriguez and Hailie Mace each scored first-half goals. Against Oregon State on Sunday, UCLA won, 4-1, as Mace scored twice within seven minutes, followed by Ashley Sanchez picking up her third goal of the season in the first half. In the second half Gabrielle Matulich scored with just four seconds on the clock for the final score of 4-1.
ROAD WARRIORS
UCLA hits the road this weekend with a 5-0 record and three shutouts. UCLA is outscoring its opponents 12-2 in road games.
PAC DRAKE
UCLA will attempt to break the NCAA women's soccer attendance record on Friday, Nov. 3 when it hosts crosstown rival USC at Drake Stadium. The national record is 10,128, which was set in 2014 during UCLA's 2-0 win over USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The last three meetings between the two schools have averaged over 8,200 fans. Tickets for the match are on sale for just $1 at uclabruins.com/tickets.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins host Utah next Thursday (Oct. 12) in the team's only match of the week. It will be UCLA's annual Breast Cancer Awareness match.
