No. 1 Bruins Play Pair of Big West Opponents

Thursday, August 24

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 PM

UCLA

Cal Poly

Val Vargas

Photo by: Elijah Carr

No. 1 Bruins Play Pair of Big West Opponents

August 22, 2023 | Women's Soccer

Game Notes (PDF)Tickets

Cal Poly (0-0-1) vs. No. 1 UCLA (1-0-0)
Date: Thursday, Aug. 27, 2023 – 7 p.m. PT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. (Wallis Annenberg Stadium)
Television: Pac-12 Networks
Talent: Christian Miles
Internet Radio: uclabruins.com
Talent: Nick Koop
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com
Tickets: uclabruins.com/tickets
Price at gate: $15 adults/$10 youth (3-16); UCLA students free with BruinCard
Parking: purchase in advance on Park Mobile app

No. 1 UCLA (1-0-0) at UC Irvine (1-1-0)
Date: Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023 – 6:30 p.m. PT
Location: Irvine, Calif. (Anteater Stadium)
Television: ESPN+
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Tickets: ucirvinesports.com/tickets
Price: $10 adults/$7 youth advance sales

UCLA vs. BIG WEST
After playing just one of two scheduled games last week, the defending NCAA champion and preseason No. 1 UCLA (1-0) will play a pair of Big West opponents this week, with a Thursday, Aug. 24 home game vs. Cal Poly (0-0-1) at 7pm and a Sunday, Aug. 27 road contest at UC Irvine (1-1).

BRUINS OPEN TITLE DEFENSE WITH SHUTOUT WIN
UCLA kicked off the 2023 season with a 2-0 shutout victory over Georgia on Thursday. UCLA opened the scoring in the 23rd minute after Sunshine Fontes was fouled in the box. Jayden Perry buried the penalty kick to put the Bruins ahead 1-0. Ally Cook doubled UCLA's lead in the 70th minute with a hard shot from just inside the top of the box. The Bruins' Sunday game vs. Portland was canceled due to inclement weather related to Hurricane Hilary.

PURCELL EARNS FIRST SOLO SHUTOUT
Making her first career start, sophomore Neeku Purcell recorded her first career solo shutout, making two saves while facing three shots. Purcell, who played with the U.S. Under-23 National Team this spring, saw action in eight games a year ago and had five shared shutouts and a 0.51 goals against average.

BRUIN DEBUTS
Four players made their Bruin debuts on Thursday night vs. Georgia. Junior defender Ayo Oke, who transferred from Cal, started and played 76 impactful minutes. Another transfer, graduate defender Emily Pringle, also made her UCLA debut and had a shot on goal in 14 minutes of action. Freshman forward Val Vargas played 31 minutes, and freshman forward Taylor Cheatham recorded one shot on goal in 25 minutes of play.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly opened its season on Thursday with a 1-1 tie at Fresno State. The Mustangs also played an exhibition game on Sunday against Cal State Monterey Bay and beat the Otters, 10-0. Cal Poly returned 15 letterwinners and four All-Big West honorees from a 2022 squad that won the Big West regular season championship with a 6-1-3 conference record. Among the returners are All-West Region honoree Emma Brown and 2022 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year Mackenzie Samuel.

THE SERIES WITH CAL POLY
UCLA is 3-2 all-time against Cal Poly and has won the last three contests, most recently in the 2010 season opener by a 7-0 score. The Mustangs won the first two matchups in the series, in 1994 and 1996 when UCLA was in its second and fourth seasons as an intercollegiate program.

SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine is coming off a weekend split on opening weekend. The Anteaters came from behind to beat Saint Mary's, 2-1, on Thursday. Mirayah Villalpando scored the game-winning goal in the 72nd minute. On Saturday, a fifth-minute goal by Erin Covey put the Anteaters ahead early against No. 11 Stanford, but the Cardinal scored two unanswered to win by a 2-1 score. Last season, UC Irvine earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big West Tournament and went on a deep NCAA run, advancing to the Round of 16, where they fell to eventual semifinalist Alabama, 3-1. The Anteaters return graduate goalkeeper Glo Hinojosa, who holds a 0.95 goals against average with 21 shutouts in five seasons.

THE SERIES WITH UCI
UCLA holds a 9-2-1 all-time record against UC Irvine. The two teams last met in 2021. UCLA won the season opener at home, 3-1, to extend its winning streak to eight-straight against UCI, but three months later, the Anteaters took the victory in the NCAA first round, 1-0. The Bruins outshot the Anteaters, 19-4, in the NCAA Tournament game but had seven shots saved by Glo Hinojosa. UCI's Alyssa Moore scored the game's only goal, 1-0, in the 14th minute.

IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA remains at No. 1 in both the United Soccer Coaches poll and the Top Drawer Soccer poll. The Bruins have been ranked No. 1 in every United Soccer Coaches poll since Sept. 6, 2022.

BRUINS TO WATCH
A total of four Bruins have been tabbed for the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Watch Lists - defender Lilly Reale, midfielders Sunshine Fontes and Ally Lemos, and forward Reilyn Turner. All four earned All-Pacific Region and All-Pac-12 honors a year ago. Reale was a second-team All-American and the winner of the Honda Sport Award. The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and the College Cup's Most Outstanding Defensive Player led the UCLA defense to a 0.55 goals against average, UCLA lowest in eight years, and to a Pac-12-best 14 shutouts. Fontes led UCLA in scoring a year ago with 11 goals and 30 points. She also ranked second on the team in assists with eight, one behind Pac-12 leader Lemos, who was selected to the Top Drawer Soccer Freshman Best XI first team. Lemos, the only field player on the Bruins to start in all 25 games, was an all-tournament selection at the College Cup. Turner, the College Cup's Most Outstanding Offensive Player, tied for the team lead in goals scored with 11 last year and has posted 10 or more goals every season. She led the NCAA in 2022 with seven game-winning goals and ranks No. 9 all-time at UCLA with 13 career game-winners.

WELCOME BACK
UCLA returns eight starters from the 2022 NCAA Championship game, including leading scorer Sunshine Fontes (30 points), College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player Reilyn Turner (25 points) and Defensive Player Lilly Reale (contributed to 13 shutouts), College Cup All-Tournament selections Ally Lemos (11 points) and Lexi Wright (22 points), and first-team All-Pac-12 honoree Quincy McMahon. Sophomore Neeku Purcell returns the most experience at the goalkeeper position. She played in eight games a year ago and posted a 0.51 goals against average with five shared shutouts.

WHAT'S NEW, BRU?
The Bruins welcome eight newcomers to the defending national championship squad. Joining the Bruins in 2023 are transfers Ayo Oke and Emily Pringle, early enrollee freshmen Taylor Cheatham and Milla Shafie and new freshmen Kirsten Crane, Maya Leoni, Sophie Reale and Val Vargas. Oke comes to UCLA from the University of California, where she was an All-Pac-12 and all-region honoree in 2022 and tied for the Pac-12 lead with nine assists. Graduate student Pringle was a two-year team captain at the University of Pennsylvania and an All-Ivy League defender in 2021. Cheatham and Shafie have been with the Bruins since January and saw action during the Bruins' spring schedule. Vargas, a starter on Mexico's Under-20 National Team, leads the new freshmen, along with Gatorade Massachusetts State Player of the Year Sophie Reale, the younger sister of UCLA starting defender Lilly Reale.

FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY
Several Bruins spent the offseason playing for their respective national teams in tournaments around the world. Head coach Margueritte Aozasa coached the U.S. Under-23 team at the Thorns Preseason Tournament in March in Portland, Oregon, and was joined by players Lilly Reale, Quincy McMahon, Sunshine Fontes, Reilyn Turner and Neeku Purcell. In May, Ally Lemos and Sofia Cook played for the U.S., and Val Vargas played for Mexico at the 2023 Concacaf Under-20 Championships in the Dominican Republic. With Vargas in the starting lineup, Mexico beat the U.S. in the final, 2-1, to capture the championship.

ACADEMIC HONORS
For the 12th consecutive year, the UCLA women's soccer team has won a United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award, recognizing exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2022-23 academic year. The Bruins posted a team GPA of 3.27, their fourth consecutive year over 3.25. A program-record 18 players were named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll in 2022.

FOLLOW THE BRUINS
Follow UCLA Women's Soccer at @UCLAWSoccer on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and /UCLAWSoccer on Facebook. The Bruins lead all collegiate soccer teams, men or women, in Instagram followers with 113k.