UCLA
Lamar (First Round)
UCLA Begins Postseason Friday vs. Lamar
November 14, 2019 | Women's Soccer
Lamar (16-6-0) at No. 7 UCLA (14-4-1)
NCAA First Round
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2019 โ 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Wallis Annenberg Stadium (2,145)
Kickoff Time: 6:00 p.m. PT
Video Broadcast: pac-12.com/live/ucla-3
Talent: Nick Koop
Live Stats: ncaa.com
Advance Tickets: $10 adults / $8 youth (3-12)
Tickets at the Door: $12 adults / $8 youth (3-12)
NO. 2 SEED UCLA HOSTS LAMAR IN NCAA FIRST ROUND
Second-seeded and seventh-ranked UCLA (14-4-1) will host Southland Conference champion Lamar University (16-6-0) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 15 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The match will begin at 6 p.m. and will be live streamed on pac-12.com.
Fans can use their NCAA Women's Soccer game ticket for free entry into the UCLA Men's Basketball game vs. UNLV, which begins at 8pm in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Tickets can be scanned at all public entrances, and seats will be located in General Admission sections 220-223B.
UCLA'S NCAA HISTORY
The Bruins are making their 23rd overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and are seeded No. 2 for the third consecutive year. UCLA has a 64-18-5 all-time NCAA Tournament record and has advanced to the Round of 16 or beyond in six of the last seven seasons, including a finals berth in 2017 and a championship victory in 2013.
UCLA AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD
UCLA posted an 8-4-1 record against members of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field this season. The Bruins have wins over every seed in their quadrant - No. 1 Florida State (2-1), No. 3 seed Wisconsin (1-0), and No. 4 Washington (1-0) - along with two other non-seeded teams, Utah (2-0) and Florida (2-1).
UCLA's only losses this year have come against NCAA Tournament teams - No. 1 seed Stanford (1-0), Santa Clara (2-0), California (1-2) and Arizona (0-3). The Bruins' only tie was also against a tournament team, Pepperdine.
BACK THE PAC
UCLA is one of nine Pac-12 teams in the NCAA Tournament this season, a conference total that ties with the ACC as most in the nation. The Pac-12 leads all conferences with four seeded teams - No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 UCLA and USC and No. 4 Washington.
BRUINS SEEDED SECOND FOR THIRD-STRAIGHT YEAR
With a No. 2 seed for the third consecutive year, UCLA has been seeded in the NCAA Tournament the last six times it has made the tournament and for the 17th time in the last 18 years. The Bruins were also a No. 2 seed in 2013 when they won their first NCAA Championship.
ON A ROLL
Since dropping their first two Pac-12 games of the year, the Bruins have been on a roll, winning eight of their last nine games, including five in a row, to finish second in the Pac-12. UCLA had a similar path a year ago, losing the first two league games before reeling off nine straight wins to close the regular season.
SANCHEZ SETS NEW UCLA CAREER ASSISTS RECORD
In just under three years, junior forward Ashley Sanchez has already broken the UCLA school record for career assists, notching 39 to break Iris Mora's previous record of 38. Sanchez has 12 assists in 2019, three off the school single-season record she and Mora share. Sanchez also holds UCLA records for single-game assists (four in 2018), consecutive games with a goal or assist (16 from 2018-19), single-season NCAA Tournament assists (seven in 2018), career NCAA Tournament assists (11) and assists by a freshman (12 in 2017). Sanchez was selected the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after her two assists against USC that helped the Bruins win for the fourth-straight year in the series.
FOURS UP FOR FOUR STRAIGHT
UCLA won the crosstown showdown against USC for the fourth consecutive year, defeating the Trojans, 4-2 in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,366 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The Bruins came from behind for the third-straight year after spotting USC a fifth-minute goal. Viviana Villacorta and Lucy Parker scored two second-half goals after the teams went into halftime tied 2-2. UCLA held USC without a shot in the second half and outshot the Trojans by a 27-4 clip in the game.
MULTIPLE WEAPONS
Thirteen different Bruin players have scored goals this season, led by freshman Mia Fishel, who has nine, and junior Ashley Sanchez, who has six. Chloe Castaneda, Lucy Parker and Marley Canales have three each; Viviana Villacorta, Jessie Fleming, Kennedy Faulknor and Maricarmen Reyes have two each; and Delanie Sheehan, Karina Rodriguez, Rachel Lowe and Sunny Dunphy have each scored one.
FISHING FOR GOALS
Freshman forward Mia Fishel has made a quick impact for the Bruins in her first year, leading the team in goals scored with nine and in game-winning goals with four. She ranks second in points with 20. Fishel leads all Pac-12 freshmen in goals scored and in points. The 2018 U.S. U-17 World Cup player has two multiple goal games this season, knocking in two in the 4-0 win at Hawaii and both goals in the 2-0 win over Utah.
CASTANEDA HEATING UP
Redshirt senior Chloe Castaneda is heating up as the Bruins head into postseason, recording three goals and two assists in her last three games. Castaneda had a similar year-end surge a year ago, scoring four of her five goals in the last seven games of the season.
HAPPY RETURNS FOR RODRIGUEZ, REYES
After missing the last 11 games of the season last year with a knee injury, fifth-year senior Anika Rodriguez has made it back to the pitch. Rodriguez made her return to competition on Sept. 5 at Santa Clara and earned her first start of the season against Arizona State, recording her first point with an assist. She has started in a total of seven games this year, all UCLA victories. Against Washington State on Oct. 27, she played a season-high 66 minutes and assisted on both of UCLA's goals in a 2-1 victory. Rodriguez also played in 66 minutes and assisted on the game-winner in the win at Oregon.
Sophomore midfielder Maricarmen Reyes, who had two knee surgeries in the offseason, made her first appearance of the season Oct. 19 at Stanford, playing eight minutes in the second half and recording one shot. In her first home game of the year on Oct. 23 against Washington, she scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute, and she added an assist on Ashley Sanchez's game-tying goal in the win over Washington State. At Oregon State, she recorded a goal and an assist. In just five games played (and while averaging just 25 minutes per game) Reyes already has two goals and two assists in six games.
FRESHMEN FINDING WAY BACK
Two freshmen who have missed considerable time this season are now back in business for the Bruins. Forward Kali Trevithick started the first four games for the Bruins before suffering an injury during the Sept. 1 Florida game that kept her out for over two months. Trevithick returned to the pitch for 16 minutes against USC on Nov. 8. Midfielder Rachel Lowe was in Australia since the beginning of October on national team duty, first playing with the full team, along with Teagan Micah, for national team camp, and then playing with the Under-20s at FIFA Under-20 World Cup qualifying. Lowe just returned to Los Angeles at the start of this week.
MILESTONES FOR MICAH
It's been quite a 2019 for senior goalkeeper Teagan Micah. After spending the summer with the Australian Women's National Team at the World Cup, Micah returned for her final season in Westwood and hit several major milestones during non-conference play. She earned her 200th career save in the season opening shutout win over Iowa State, recorded her 50th career win in the shutout victory over Florida, and earned her 30th career shutout against Wisconsin. She also won a Pac-12 record eighth Goalkeeper of the Week award on Sept. 3 and was named the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week on Sept. 17 after making a season-high five saves in the shutout win over Wisconsin. Micah, who has seven solo and one shared shutout and a 0.75 goals against average, has moved into third on UCLA's all-time saves chart with 230 and is third with 57 career wins. With 33 shutouts, she ranks third on UCLA's career shutout list.
SWEET 16 FOR SANCHEZ
Ashley Sanchez ran her school record point scoring streak to 16 games after scoring in the first three games of the season. Her streak ran from Sept. 30, 2018 to Aug. 29, 2019, and she totaled nine goals and 16 assists (35 points) during that time. With just over two seasons under her belt, Sanchez already holds UCLA's school record for career assists with 39, and she currently leads the team in points (24) and assists (12).
MAINSTAYS
Four Bruin players have started in all 19 games this season - Kaiya McCullough, Karina Rodriguez, Viviana Villacorta, and Lucy Parker. All four have logged over 1,500 minutes this year. Four other players have played in all 19 games - Ashley Sanchez, Delanie Sheehan, Mia Fishel and Chloe Castaneda. McCullough has made 71 consecutive starts, the only game she has not started coming on Oct. 23, 2016 due to illness. Rodriguez has started in 47 consecutive games. Parker started every game at LSU in 2017 and 2018 and has a streak of 61 consecutive starts. She leads the team in minutes played with 1,671.
UCLA DEBUTS
Six Bruins made their official UCLA debuts in the season opener - junior transfer Lucy Parker, redshirt freshman Shana Flynn, and freshmen Mia Fishel, Kali Trevithick, Rachel Lowe and Brianne Riley. Four more freshmen earned their first collegiate appearances at Hawaii on Sept. 22 - Kylie Kerr, Jackie Gilday, Brecken Mozingo and Janae DeFazio. Fishel leads the Bruin freshmen in games played and started with 19 and 15, respectively. Brianne Riley is next in games played with 16. She has also made one start.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Bruins moved up to No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches and the Top Drawer Soccer poll. UCLA finished the regular season No. 7 in the RPI.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Lamar earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southland Conference Tournament. The Cardinals also won the conference's regular season title. This is Lamar's second NCAA appearance in the-last three years. They previously qualified in 2017, losing in the first round to Texas A&M, 1-0. This season, the Cardinals overcame a 1-5 start to the season to finish 16-6-0. They have won 12 straight games and rank third in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 3.05 goals per game. Junior Esther Okoronkwo is the national goals leader with 25, and she and junior Lucy Ashworth rank 2-3 in the nation in points with 60 and 51, respectively. This will be the first meeting ever between UCLA and Lamar.
SEVEN BRUINS EARN PAC-12 HONORS
Seven UCLA women's soccer players were selected to the All-Pac-12 team, led by first-team All-Pac-12 honorees Jessie Fleming and Ashley Sanchez. Fleming joined Lauren Cheney and Abby Dahlkemper as the only Bruins to earn first-team all-conference honors all four years. Kaiya McCullough, Lucy Parker and Viviana Villacorta were named to the second team, and Chloe Castaneda and Mia Fishel earned third team acclaim. Fishel was also named to the All-Freshman Team.
