The UCLA women's soccer team opens the season ranked No. 2 in the United Soccer Coaches' preseason poll and was also chosen as the preseason No. 2 by the Pac-12 coaches. Reigning NCAA champion Stanford ranks first in both polls.
The NCAA runner-up a year ago, the Bruins also tied for second in the Pac-12 in 2017 with an 8-2-1 conference record. UCLA returns nine starters from last year's squad that went 19-3-3, including first-team All-Americans Jessie Fleming and Hailie Mace; All-Region honorees Ashley Sanchez and Kaiya McCullough, and U.S. Under-20 National Team starter Viviana Villacorta. Also returning is midfielder Anika Rodriguez, who scored 25 points a year ago, and goalkeeper Teagan Micah, who ranks fifth on UCLA's career shutout list and led the nation in goalkeeper minutes played with 2,268 in 2017.
UCLA plays a highly-competitive schedule in 2018, facing four of the Top 10 teams on the road. Four of UCLA's first five games will be against Top 20 teams, including a three-game road stretch against No. 4 Penn State on Aug. 25, No. 7 Florida on Aug. 31 and No. 10 Florida State on Sept. 2 before returning home to host No. 18 Pepperdine on Sept. 7.
The Bruins begin the season on Friday, Aug. 10 with an exhibition contest against BYU at Drake Stadium at 6pm. Admission is free. The 2018 season officially opens on Friday, Aug. 17 against Long Beach State in the grand opening of Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Tickets to the grand opening are on sale now at uclabruins.com/tickets.
2018 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Preseason Poll
1. Stanford (34 first-place votes) - 874 points
2. UCLA (1) - 832
3. Duke - 791
4. Penn State - 718
5. South Carolina - 704
6. North Carolina - 683
7. Florida - 662
8. Virginia - 600
9. West Virginia - 579
10. Florida State - 546
11. Texas A&M - 503
12. USC - 484
13. Princeton - 473
14. Notre Dame - 343
15. Baylor - 334
16. Central Florida - 292
17. Texas- 279
18. Pepperdine - 237
19. Santa Clara - 212
20. North Carolina State - 204
21. Washington State - 167
22. Georgetown - 155
23. Ohio State - 146
24. Rutgers - 134
25. Tennessee - 130
2018 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Stanford (11 first-place votes) – 121 points
2. UCLA (1) - 109
3. USC - 98
4. California - 90
5. Colorado - 74
6. Arizona - 67
7. Washington State - 66
8. Washington - 58
9. Utah - 34
10. Oregon - 33
11. Arizona State - 25
12. Oregon State - 17