UCLA
Clemson (Second Round)
UCLA Hosts NCAA Soccer Second/Third Rounds
November 20, 2019 | Women's Soccer
Clemson (11-6-2) at No. 7 UCLA (15-4-1)
NCAA Second Round
Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 22, 2019 โ 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Wallis Annenberg Stadium (2,145)
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 CLEMSON IN NCAA SECOND ROUND
Second-seeded and seventh-ranked UCLA (15-4-1) will host Clemson (11-6-2) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 22 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The match will take place at 8 p.m., following the 5 p.m. game between 12th-ranked Duke (9-3-7) and 10th-ranked and third-seeded Wisconsin (15-3-2), and will be live streamed on pac-12.com.
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 65-18-5 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 regular season 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. Pac-12 schools went 7-2 in the first round, with Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State, Arizona and Colorado advancing to the second round.
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.
FIRST ROUND RECAP
UCLA scored three first-half goals and cruised to a 4-1 victory over Lamar University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins shut down the third-ranked offense in the nation, holding the Cardinals to just one shot in the first half and six shots overall, allowing a goal only in the final minute. Jessie Fleming, Delanie Sheehan and Maricarmen Reyes provided the first-half scoring, and Kali Trevithick recorded her first collegiate goal in the second half. A total of 21 players saw action for the Bruins, who recorded 33 shots and 21 shots on goal.
ON A ROLL
Since dropping their first two Pac-12 games of the year, the Bruins have been on a roll, winning nine of their last 10 games, including six 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 earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the third time in as many years.
MULTIPLE WEAPONS
Fourteen 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, Jessie Fleming, Lucy Parker, Maricarmen Reyes and Marley Canales have three each; Viviana Villacorta, Kennedy Faulknor and Delanie Sheehan have two each; and Karina Rodriguez, Rachel Lowe, Kali Trevithick 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 four 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.
McCULLOUGH HONORED AS PAC-12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF YEAR
Senior defender Kaiya McCullough was named the 2019 Pac-12 Women's Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining Sarah Killion (2014) as the only Bruins to win this award. McCullough holds a 3.73 cumulative GPA in Political Science and is set to graduate in December. She is a two-time second-team All-Pac-12 honoree, earning honors in 2019 and 2017, and was also second-team All-Region in 2017, a Pac-12 All-Freshman selection in 2016 and a three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. Under McCullough's watch this season, the Bruin defense has posted 10 shutouts and a 0.79 goals against average. UCLA opponents have been limited to single-digit shots in 15 of 20 games. In the classroom, she is a two-time honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in 2017. She received the Athletic Director's Academic Excellence Award in 2019 for making the Director's Honor Roll every quarter she has been at UCLA and earned a 4.0 GPA in two of those quarters.
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 nine games this year, all UCLA victories, and has totaled five assists. 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. One game later, on Oct. 23 against Washington, she scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute, and then 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 six games played (and while averaging just 31 minutes per game) Reyes already has three goals and two assists.
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 and then scored her first collegiate goal in the NCAA first round vs. Lamar. 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 played 41 minutes and had three shots in her return against Lamar in the NCAA first round.
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 0.72 goals against average, has moved into third on UCLA's all-time saves chart with 231 and is third with 58 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 20 games this season - Kaiya McCullough, Karina Rodriguez, Viviana Villacorta, and Lucy Parker. All four have logged over 1,600 minutes this year. Four other players have played in all 20 games - Ashley Sanchez, Delanie Sheehan, Mia Fishel and Chloe Castaneda. McCullough has made 72 consecutive starts, the only game she has not started coming on Oct. 23, 2016 due to illness. Rodriguez has started in 48 consecutive games. Parker started every game at LSU in 2017 and 2018 and has a streak of 62 consecutive starts. She leads the team in minutes played with 1,756.
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 20 and 16, respectively. Brianne Riley is next in games played with 17. She has also made one start.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
Clemson received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after losing in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. This is Clemson's 20th NCAA appearance and sixth consecutive. The Tigers hold a 12-15-11 all-time NCAA Tournament record. Mariana Speckmaier leads the Tigers with six goals, and Renee Guion leads the team with 12 assists.
THIRD ROUND MATCHUPS
If the Bruins win on Friday, they will face either Duke or No. 3 seed Wisconsin in the third round on Sunday at 4pm. UCLA is 4-1-1 all-time against Duke, with its only loss coming in the first meeting in 1996. The two teams last played in the 2017 NCAA semifinals, with UCLA advancing to the final in penalty kicks. The Bruins are 5-0 against Wisconsin, winning 1-0 at home on Sept. 14 on a Kennedy Faulknor goal in the 51st minute.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Bruins finished the regular season ranked No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches and the Top Drawer Soccer poll. UCLA also finished the regular season No. 7 in the RPI.
