University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Women's Soccer Opens Season, New Stadium Friday
August 17, 2018 | Women's Soccer
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Friday, Aug. 18, 2018
Kickoff Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Venue: Wallis Annenberg Stadium (2,145)
Television: Pac-12 Network
TV Talent: J.B. Long (play-by-play), Tammy Blackburn (analyst)
Internet Radio: uclabruins.com
Radio Talent: Dave Marcus
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com
Tickets: $10 adults / $5 military & youth (3-12)
Pregame: 5 pm - Annenberg Stadium Grand Opening
Giveaways: Commemorative ticket (first 2,000 fans)
GRAND OPENING HIGHLIGHTS SEASON OPENER
No. 2 UCLA will open its 2018 season in grand fashion with the grand opening of its new home, Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Prior to the start of the season-opening match against Long Beach State, UCLA will host a Grand Opening Celebration at Wilson Plaza, just outside the stadium. The festivities begin at 5pm, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony taking place at 5:30. Doors to the stadium will open at 6pm, and the UCLA-Long Beach State game will kick off at 7:00 pm. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network with J.B. Long and Tammy Blackburn on the call, and it can also be heard online at UCLABruins.com with Dave Marcus calling the action.
WALLIS ANNENBERG STADIUM
Friday's game will mark the grand opening of the Bruins' new home, Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The stadium, which seats 2,145, is located at the previously-named North Athletic Field, where UCLA played selected home games from 1967-99 before moving to Drake Stadium from 2000-17. The new stadium was made possible thanks to a $5 million lead gift from the Annenberg Foundation. The just-completed first phase of the stadium project includes grandstand seating and press box on the west side, a Daktronics LED video board and Musco Sports lighting. Future phases of the stadium project may include expanded stadium seating, a training room, student-athlete locker room, coaches' locker rooms, meeting spaces, ticketing space, and a new press box.
UCLA IN SEASON OPENERS
UCLA is 18-6-1 all-time in season openers and has won seven of the last eight. The Bruins won last season's opener against San Diego State, 5-1. Julia Hernandez scored two of UCLA's four second-half goals in the win.
SCOUTING THE 49ERS
Long Beach State returns nine starters and 18 letterwinners from a team that went 9-6-3 a year ago. Forwards Ashley Gonzales and Katie Pingel and defender Chloe Froment were selected to the pre-season All-Big West team. Gonzales, the 2016 Big West Offensive Player of the Year after scoring 11 goals, played just two games in 2017 before suffering a season-ending injury.
BRUINS BEAT BYU IN EXHIBITION
UCLA defeated BYU, 2-1, in a preseason exhibition Aug. 10, with senior forward Julia Hernandez netting the game-winner with 1:35 remaining on the clock. The Bruins started the scoring at 13:40 on a goal by junior Sunny Dunphy after a give-and-go with Anika Rodriguez. The Cougars, however, tied the score at 24:34 on Elise Flake's strike. The game appeared to be headed for a tie before Hernandez came through in the 89th minute with the go-ahead goal, assisted by Jessie Fleming and Olivia Athens. UCLA outshot BYU in the match, 16-11, and recorded five saves to BYU's four.
2017 IN REVIEW
UCLA advanced to the NCAA Championship match for the second time in five years under head coach Amanda Cromwell, who earned her 300th career coaching victory in 2017. The Bruins started the season by winning their first seven games and going unbeaten in their first 14 games. A 3-2 overtime win over USC in front of a NCAA regular season record crowd of 11,925 set the table for a deep postseason run. UCLA's playoff run was highlighted by late game-winning goals by Anika Rodriguez in both the second and third rounds and a shootout victory over Duke in the semifinals. Two Bruin players - midfielder Jessie Fleming and forward Hailie Mace - earned first-team All-America honors, and Fleming was a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Mace led UCLA in scoring last year with 15 goals and 33 points. Rodriguez added 25 points on eight goals and nine assists. Sanchez set a UCLA freshman record with 12 assists and also had six goals. Fleming was UCLA's fourth 20-point scorer with six goals and eight assists, and Julia Hernandez and Delanie Sheehan rounded out the Top 5 scorers with 13 points each.
PRESEASON RANKING
UCLA will begin the season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches and Top Drawer Soccer preseason polls. The Bruins were also picked No. 2 in the Pac-12 preseason poll. The Bruins are set to play four teams in the preseason Top 10 on the road, including No. 1 Stanford. Four of UCLA's first five games will be against Top 20 teams, starting with 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.
FOUR ON MAC HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST
Four members of the UCLA women's soccer team have been selected to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List for 2018, including 2017 finalist Jessie Fleming and 2017 semifinalist Hailie Mace. Also earning selection to the watch list are All-Region honorees Kaiya McCullough and Ashley Sanchez. The MAC Hermann Trophy, presented by World Wide Technology, is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding male and female players of the year. This year's winners will be announced Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
BRUINS EARN PRESEASON AWARDS
Five Bruins were selected by TopDrawerSoccer.com for its preseason awards. Junior midfielder Jessie Fleming made the Preseason Best XI first team, junior forward Hailie Mace was selected to the second team, and junior defender Kaiya McCullough and sophomore forward Ashley Sanchez were named to the second team. Midfielder Maricarmen Reyes earned a spot on the Freshman Best XI team.
UNDER-20 WORLD CUP PLAYERS RETURN
With the U.S. and Mexico being knocked out of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup at the group stage, UCLA's three players have returned from France in time for Friday's season opener. Ashley Sanchez and Viviana Villacorta represented the U.S., which went 1-1-1 in group play. Sanchez scored a goal, and Villacorta had two assists in a 6-0 victory over Paraguay. Reyes' Mexico squad went 1-2-0 in group play. All three Bruins started in all three games.
NATIONAL TEAMS
UCLA has a plethora of national team players on its 2018 squad, including five who have earned call-ups to the full national team - Hailie Mace and Ashley Sanchez (U.S.), Jessie Fleming and Kennedy Faulknor (Canada), and Teagan Micah (Australia). Three played at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup this summer - Sanchez, Viviana Villacorta and Maricarmen Reyes. Two other Bruins - Delanie Sheehan and Karina Rodriguez - were on the U.S. U-20 squad at the 2018 CONCACAF Championships. and seven more have played with various U.S. Youth National Teams in their career - Olivia Athens (U-18), Lauren Brzykcy (U-17), Marley Canales (2018 U-23s, 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup), Chloe Castaneda (U-17), Maddi Desiano (U-19), Sunny Dunphy (U-19), Jacey Pederson (U-19), Anika Rodriguez (U-23). In addition, Julia Hernandez played with the Spanish U-17 National Team, Olivia de Moraes with the Brazilian U-17 team and Shana Flynn with the Canadian U-20s.
GIRL POWER
UCLA features an all-female coaching staff, led by head coach Amanda Cromwell, who ranks among the nation's Top 25 winningest active coaches with 308 career wins and a .705 winning percentage. Cromwell's assistant coaches are two-time Olympian Jenny Bindon and Sam Greene and volunteer assistant Jane Alukonis.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will hit the road for two weeks, competing against three Top 10 squads in Penn State on Aug. 25, Florida on Aug. 31 and Florida State on Sept. 2. UCLA will stay on the East Coast before traveling to Florida, doing team bonding at head coach Amanda Cromwell's family's vacation home in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.
