University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Penn State
Top 3 Matchup Ahead for UCLA Women's Soccer
August 23, 2018 | Women's Soccer
GAME INFORMATION
No. 2 UCLA (1-0-0) at No. 3 Penn State (1-0-0)
Date/Time: Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018 – 1 p.m. PT
Location: University Park, Pa. (Jeffrey Field)
Kickoff Time: 4:00 pm ET / 1:00 p.m. PT
Television: ESPNU
TV Talent: Jonathan Yardley (play-by-play), Cat Whitehill (analyst)
Live Stats: gopsusports.com
TWO OF NATION'S TOP THREE TEAMS FACE OFF SATURDAY
No. 2 UCLA will begin a challenging three-game road trip this weekend, traveling to No. 3 Penn State for a Saturday, Aug. 25 clash in University Park, Pa. The Bruins and Nittany Lions will play at 4pm ET/1pm PT on ESPNU.
THREE IN A ROW VS. TOP 6
The Bruins will face three consecutive road opponents who are ranked in the Top 6 in the nation this week, beginning with No. 3 Penn State this week. Next weekend, the Bruins travel to Florida to meet No. 5 Florida on Aug. 31 and No. 6 Florida State on Sept. 2.
NATIONAL TEAM DUTY CALLS FOR MACE, FLEMING
UCLA All-Americans Hailie Mace and Jessie Fleming have been called into National Team duty for international friendlies next week. Mace will join the U.S. Women's National Team training camp ahead of Aug. 31 and Sept. 4 matches with Chile, while Fleming joins Canada for a Sept. 2 friendly against Brazil. This is Mace's third call-up to the full team. She earned her first cap on Apr. 8 against Mexico. Fleming is a Canadian National Team veteran, having totaled 53 caps and 41 starts. She played in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and won bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games. The Friday, Aug. 31 U.S. match will take place at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. and will be televised live at 8pm PT on ESPN2. The Tuesday, Sept. 4 match will be at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif. at 7pm PT, live on ESPN2. Canada plays Brazil in Ottawa on Sunday, Sept. 2.
MACE NAMED PAC-12 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK
Senior forward Hailie Mace was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for week one of the 2018 season, her fourth career award and the Bruins' 71st all-time weekly honor. Mace came off the bench to score the game-winning goal with just two seconds remaining in regulation to give the second-ranked Bruins a 1-0 victory over Long Beach State in the season opener and grand opening of Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The goal was the 16th of her career and her fifth game-winning goal.
A GRAND FINISH FOR A GRAND OPENING
It was a grand finish to UCLA's grand opening of Wallis Annenberg Stadium. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by main benefactor Wallis Annenberg, the Bruins won the first game in the new stadium in dramatic fashion, with senior forward Hailie Mace scoring the game-winner with just two seconds remaining in regulation. A long ball from defender Karina Rodriguez with just over 10 seconds left got the ball rolling for the Bruins. Her pass found the head of her sister Anika Rodriguez, who flicked the ball back to Mace running towards goal. Mace got a deflection and raced ahead of the Long Beach defender, sliding the ball past the Long Beach State goalkeeper into the back of the net for the first goal in the stadium's history.
NEW HOME
After playing home games at Drake Stadium from 2000-17, the UCLA soccer teams have moved into a 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. 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.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS
Penn State opened the season with a pair of shutouts, defeating No. 9 West Virginia, 1-0, and Duquesne, 6-0. Six different players have scored in the team's two games, led by Frankie Tagliaferri, who recorded two in the win over Duquesne.The Nittany Lions return 16 players from last year's squad that went 15-5-4 and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals, including eight players from the 2015 NCAA championship-winning squad. One of those players, midfielder Emily Ogle, was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
SERIES WITH PENN STATE
UCLA and Penn State have met five previous times, with the Nittany Lions holding a 3-2 advantage. However, UCLA won the last matchup in 2016, 1-0 in overtime in Los Angeles. Jessie Fleming scored the game-winner in the 99th minute, rising up to head in a MacKenzie Cerda corner kick for the golden goal. Teagan Micah earned the shutout by making six saves. This will be just the second time UCLA has traveled to Penn State. The only other meeting at Penn State occurred in the 2006 season opener, which the Nittany Lions won, 3-1.
MICAH NEARS TOP 5
Junior goalkeeper Teagan Micah continues to inch closer to UCLA's all-time Top 5 in career saves, making two critical stops in the season opener to increase her career total to 156, four away from Gretchen Overgaard, who ranks fifth with 160 saves. Micah is also two wins away from the Top 5 in career wins, currently holding 35. Micah, who has played in every game since her freshman season, is already in the Top 5 with 19 career shutouts.
SISTER-SISTER
Sisters Karina Rodriguez and Anika Rodriguez combined to set up Hailie Mace's game-winning goal in the Bruins' season opener. Karina started the play with a long ball down the field to Anika, who flicked it forward to Mace going up the field. Mace forced a mistake from the defender and scored the winner with two seconds to play.
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.
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 third team. Midfielder Maricarmen Reyes earned a spot on the Freshman Best XI team.
THREE BRUINS PLAY IN UNDER-20 WORLD CUP
UCLA had three players in France earlier this month for the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup. Sophomores 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. Freshman Maricarmen 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 (U.S.) and Maricarmen Reyes (Mexico). Two other Bruins - Delanie Sheehan and Karina Rodriguez - were on the U.S. U-20 squad at the 2018 CONCACAF Championships. and nine 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), Kaiya McCullough (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 at the start of the season. Cromwell's assistant coaches are two-time Olympian Jenny Bindon and Sam Greene and volunteer assistant Jane Alukonis.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will continue its road trip at No. 5 Florida on Aug. 31 and No. 6 Florida State on Sept. 2. Rather than flying back to California, the Bruins will stay on the East Coast, doing team bonding at head coach Amanda Cromwell's family's vacation home in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.
