UCLA
Brigham Young
No. 1 UCLA Begins Three-Game Road Trip at BYU
August 31, 2017 | Women's Soccer
No. 1 UCLA (4-0-0) at BYU (0-1-2)
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017 โ 7:00 p.m. (MT) / 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Provo, Utah (South Field)
TV: BYUtv (Spencer Linton, Natalyn Lewis, Lauren Francom McClain)
Radio: BYU Radio on Sirius XM 143 (Greg Wrubell, Paige Barker)
Live Stats: byucougars.com
No. 1 UCLA (4-0-0) at Weber State (1-3-0)
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017 โ 7:00 p.m. (MT) / 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Ogden, Utah (Wildcat Soccer Field)
Kickoff Time: 7:00 p.m. MT / 6:00 p.m. PT
TV: Pluto TV 235
Internet Video: watchbigsky.com
Live Stats: weberstatestats.com
NO. 1 BRUINS FACE THREE-GAME ROAD TEST
Top-ranked UCLA (4-0-0) will spend the next week away from home, kicking off a three-game road trip at BYU on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7:00 p.m. MT/6:00 p.m. PT. The match will be televised live on BYUtv. Following the BYU game in Provo, the Bruins will head to Ogden, Utah to take on Weber State for the first time ever on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 7:00 p.m./6:00 p.m. PT. UCLA will then travel to Charlottesville, Va. for a Thursday, Sept. 7 matchup at head coach Amanda Cromwell's alma mater Virginia, which is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation.
BRUINS ATOP NATIONAL RANKINGS
After scoring 17 goals in the first four games, UCLA now sits atop the United Soccer Coaches national rankings. This is the first time UCLA has been ranked No. 1 since spending the entire regular season in 2014 ranked No. 1. The Bruins are ranked No. 2 behind Penn State in the Soccer America and Top Drawer Soccer rankings.
MACE, MICAH EARN PAC-12 WEEKLY AWARDS
UCLA earned two of the Pac-12's three weekly awards, as Hailie Mace was awarded Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, and Teagan Micah received Goalkeeper of the Week acclaim. Mace, who twice earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors last season, picked up her first offensive award after recording a hat trick in UCLA's 4-2 win over Santa Clara. Mace scored all three goals in the first half to record the 26th hat trick in UCLA women's soccer history and the first in her collegiate career. Micah picked up her fourth career Goalkeeper of the Week honor after leading UCLA to another pair of victories, 4-2 over Santa Clara and 3-1 over previously undefeated UC Santa Barbara. The sophomore from Redcliffe, Australia, had three saves in the Santa Clara contest and now has 100 in her career.
HATS OFF TO MACE
In addition to earning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors, junior forward Hailie Mace was also selected the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week and named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week after recording her first collegiate hat trick in the 4-2 win over Santa Clara. Mace leads the Bruin team and ranks seventh in the nation with 10 points. Her four goals scored this year rank tied for fifth nationally.
SCORING MACHINE
Junior forward Julia Hernandez is off to a hot start this season with four goals in four games. She has scored in three of the Bruins' four contests and ranks fifth nationally (tied with Hailie Mace) in goals scored. More impressively is Hernandez's goals per minutes played. She has scored four in just 121 minutes, which averages to a goal every 30 minutes that she is on the pitch.
FRESH FACES
UCLA's freshman class has already made a big impact, with five freshmen earning starting positions in at least one game so far this season. Karina Rodriguez and Delanie Sheehan have started in all four games. Viviana Villacorta and Ashley Sanchez have three starts each, and Olivia Athens has one. Sheehan ranks third on the team in goals scored with three and in points with seven and also ranks third in the nation with two game-winning goals. Sanchez and Athens are tied for the team lead in assists with three each, and Sanchez ranks fifth nationally in assists per game (1.0). Villacorta has two assists on the year. Rodriguez leads all field players with 323 minutes played. Additionally, Marley Canales has played in all four games.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
BYU began the year ranked No. 8 in the preseason coaches poll but dropped out of the rankings this week following a 1-1 tie vs. Cal State Fullerton. The Cougars, who lost three of their top four goal-scorers from last year (71% of their goal scoring), are still seeking their first victory of 2017. Senior defender Taylor Isom was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. BYU has led the nation in average attendance the last two seasons. UCLA trails the overall series with BYU, 1-2-1. In the last meeting, in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the Bruins advanced over BYU in penalty kicks, 4-3. The last scheduled matchup between the Bruins and Cougars came on Sept. 25, 2002, a 6-0 UCLA victory in Los Angeles.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Weber State enters Sunday's game with a 1-3 record, with its lone win coming Aug. 25 vs. North Dakota State, 1-0, on a 40-yard goal by freshman defender Haley Thomas. This is the first-ever matchup between UCLA and Weber State, and the top-ranked Bruins are the highest-ranked team Weber State has ever faced.
LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP
UCLA continued its high-scoring ways last weekend, defeating Santa Clara, 4-2, and UC Santa Barbara, 3-1. Hailie Mace was the star of the Santa Clara match, recording a first-half hat trick. UCLA actually trailed for the first time this season when Santa Clara's Julie Doyle scored in the ninth minute, but the Bruins came roaring back with three unanswered goals in an eight-minute span. Anika Rodriguez tied the game in the 17th minute, and Mace scored the first two of her three goals in the half. In the victory over UC Santa Barbara, UCLA scored twice in the first 18 minutes and cruised to victory, 3-1. The Bruins outshot UCSB, 17-2, and had three different goal scorers - MacKenzie Cerda, Delanie Sheehan and Julia Hernandez.
2016 IN REVIEW
The Bruins finished last season ranked No. 13 in the country with a 15-5-2 overall record and 7-3-1 Pac-12 record, which tied for fourth in the standings. UCLA advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 1 overall seed West Virginia in penalty kicks in a snowy affair. Five Bruins earned Pac-12 awards, including All-Pac-12 honorees Jessie Fleming (1st team), Anika Rodriguez (2nd team) and Hailie Mace (honorable mention) and All-Freshman selection Kaiya McCullough. Fleming became just the fourth Bruin in history to earn NSCAA All-America honors as a freshman.
MAC HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST
Sophomore midfielder Jessie Fleming has been selected to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List for 2017. The MAC Hermann Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding male and female players of the year. Fleming, a member of the full Canadian Women's National Team since 2013, was one of just two freshmen to receive All-America honors last season, being selected to the NSCAA All-America third team after leading UCLA in goals (11) and points (27). In her first game as a Bruin, less than 10 days after winning a bronze medal at the Olympic Games with Team Canada, she scored two goals, and she went on to score a goal in each of her first four games. Fleming was selected the Top Drawer Soccer Freshman of the Year.
NATIONAL TEAMS
UCLA has a plethora of national team players on its 2017 squad, including four who have earned call-ups to the full national team - Fleming (Canada), Teagan Micah (Australia) and freshmen Ashley Sanchez (U.S.) and Kennedy Faulknor (Canada). Three played with the U.S. Under-23 National Team in July - Sanchez, Zoey Goralski and Hailie Mace. Karina Rodriguez and Viviana Villacorta have played with the Under-20s this year, and Kaiya McCullough and Delanie Sheehan have played with the Under-19s in 2017. Eleven more Bruins have played with various U.S. Youth National Teams in their career - Olivia Athens (U-18), Lauren Brzykcy (U-17), Marley Canales (2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup), Chloe Castaneda (U-17), MacKenzie Cerda (U-18), Sunny Dunphy (U-19), Chloe Hemingway (U-18), Gabrielle Matulich (U-20), Jacey Pederson (U-19), Anika Rodriguez (U-17), and Claire Winter (U-15). In addition, Siri Ervik played with the Norwegian U-19 National Team, and Julia Hernandez played with the Spanish U-17 National Team.
