UCLA
Portland
Bruins Play at Portland Thursday, Host No. 1 Stanford Sunday
September 03, 2025 | Women's Soccer
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025 โ 7:00 p.m. PT
Portland, Ore. (Merlo Field)
Broadcast: ESPN+
Talent: Chris Clayton, Angela Harrison
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com
No. 1 Stanford (5-0) vs. No. 18 UCLA (2-2)
Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025 โ 1:00 p.m. PT
Los Angeles, Calif. (Wallis Annenberg Stadium)
Ticket Price: $17 adults/$9 youth; UCLA students free with BruinCard
Advance Tickets: uclabruins.com/tickets
Broadcast: B1G+ (www.bigtenplus.com)
Talent: Nick Koop, Sophie Wimmer
Live Stats: ucla.statbroadcast.com
BRUINS PLAY AT PORTLAND THURSDAY, HOST STANFORD SUNDAY
No. 18 UCLA (2-2) will visit Portland (1-1-2) on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. before returning home to host No. 1 Stanford (5-0) on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Thursday's match will air on ESPN+, and Sunday's contest will be on Big Ten Plus.
SCOUTING THE PILOTS
Portland is coming off a 0-0 tie on the road against No. 4 USC on Sept. 28. Prior to that game, the Pilots beat Long Beach State at home, 2-1. Goalkeeper Sophia Hills has recorded two shutouts this season and holds a goals against average of 0.50. Violet Rademacher and Aliyah Dockter lead the team with one goal apiece. Portland is coached by 2000 Olympic medalist Michelle French in her eighth season. French was an assistant coach for the Bruins in 2002.
THE SERIES WITH PORTLAND
UCLA leads the all-time series with Portland, 8-1, and has won five in a row in the series. The teams have not met since 2009, when the Bruins beat the Pilots, 2-1, in the NCAA quarterfinals to advance to the College Cup. Portland's lone win came in the 2005 NCAA Championship match, 4-0. UCLA is 2-0 in games played in Portland.
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
Stanford, ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive week, will face No. 6 USC on Thursday before taking on the Bruins on Sunday. The Cardinal offense has been prolific in 2025, averaging 5.0 goals and 27.6 shots per game. They have been just as strong defensively, allowing just two goals and a 0.40 goals against average with three shutouts. Jasmine Aikey leads the team with five goals and is tied with Allie Montoya for the team lead in points scored with 11. Stanford has seven players who have totaled two or more goals this year.
THE SERIES WITH STANFORD
Stanford leads the all-time series 19-13-3. The two teams tied 1-1 in the last matchup at UCLA in 2023. Stanford's last win came in 2022, 1-0, at the Farm, and UCLA's last win came in 2021, 1-0, at home.
STANFORD-UCLA TIES
The ties are strong between the UCLA and Stanford head coaches. UCLA's Margueritte Aozasa was an assistant coach at Stanford from 2015-21 under Paul Ratcliffe. They teamed up to lead Stanford to NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2019 before Aozasa joined the Bruins as head coach in 2022 and led UCLA to a NCAA Championship in her first year. Like Aozasa, Ratcliffe has won NCAA titles for both schools, as he was on UCLA's 1990 NCAA men's soccer championship team. Ratcliffe is the most successful coach in Stanford soccer history, with nearly 400 victories in 23 seasons.
PLAYING THE BEST
UCLA is 2-19-3 all-time in games against No. 1-ranked teams but has won two of the last three, including a 2-1 win at North Carolina in 2022 and a 2-1 win over Florida State in 2019. Eleven of UCLA's 24 matchups against top-ranked teams were against Stanford.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA's youth movement was on full display on Friday night during the Bruins' 2-0 victory over Long Beach State. Bruin newcomers accounted for both goals and all three assists, with freshman forward Payten Cooper recording a goal and assist, junior transfer Oruha Hayashi scoring her first NCAA goal, and freshmen Leena Powell and Grace Shank picking up assists. Freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor saved a penalty kick in the first half and contributed to a shared shutout with sophomore Mariangela Medina, who played a scoreless second half in her collegiate debut.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA moved up five spots from No. 23 to No. 18 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and up four spots from No. 12 to No. 8 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. Three of the teams Bruins have played this year are currently ranked in the Top 15 of the coaches' poll - No. 2 Tennessee, No. 11 BYU and No. 15 Georgia - with another one looming this Sunday against No. 1 Stanford.
COOPER NAMED BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF WEEK
UCLA forward Payten Cooper was named the Big Ten Women's Soccer Freshman of the Week after a one goal, one assist performance against Long Beach State. Cooper, who hails from Plano, Texas, came off the bench at the start of the second half against Long Beach State and scored her first collegiate goal on a header in the 50th minute, breaking a 0-0 tie. She also had an assist on the Bruins' second goal in the 65th minute, scored by Oruha Hayashi. Cooper had two shots on goal and played in a season-best 45 minutes. She now leads the team in scoring with three points and holds a shots on goal percentage of .750. This is UCLA's second-ever Big Ten Freshman of the Week award. Jordan Geis had UCLA's first in 2024.
DEFENSE HOLDING STRONG
In four games, UCLA's defense has held opponents to just 29 shots (7.5 average) and 10 shots on goal. The Bruins allowed just one shot in their matchup against No. 6 Tennessee, but that one shot went in for the game's only goal. UCLA's highest total of shots on goal allowed so far this season was seven in a shutout win at Georgia in the season opener. Freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor has allowed just two goals and holds a 0.57 goals against average with one shared and one solo shutout. Mariangela Medina has a shared shutout and did not allow a goal in the second half of play against Long Beach State in her collegiate debut.
BRUIN DEBUTS
Eight players made their Bruin debuts in the season opener, including six freshmen. Making starts were senior transfer Jennie Immethun and freshmen Daphne Nakfoor, Grace Shank, Leena Powell and Meila Brewer. Coming in off the bench were junior transfer Oruha Hayashi and freshmen Leila Edris and Payten Cooper. Sofia Atehortua earned her first career minutes against Tennessee, Julia Molnar made her collegiate debut at BYU, and Cassidey Doogan played her first game against Long Beach State.
COMEBACK COMPLETE
Redshirt seniors Emma Egizii and Lexi Wright and sophomore forward Bella Winn have all returned to action after missing most, if not all, of the 2024 season with injuries. Egizii scored two goals in three games before getting injured during game four of the season. Her return to play in UCLA's exhibition win against LMU was highlighted by a left-footed rocket that gave UCLA a 3-0 lead in the second half. Winn recorded a goal and an assist in the Bruins' first two games of 2024 but was injured while scoring her goal in game two and did not return the rest of the year. She scored the game-winning goal in UCLA's 1-0 road win at Georgia in the season opener and has started in all four games for the Bruins this season. Wright suffered her injury early in preseason training in 2024 and has played in every game this year.
EGIZII, IMMETHUN, WRIGHT NAMED TO WATCH LIST
Bruin seniors Emma Egizii, Jennie Immethun and Lexi Wright were selected to the Big Ten Players to Watch List. Both Egizii and Wright are coming off redshirt seasons, as they each suffered season-ending injuries early in 2024. Wright ranked third on the Bruin team in scoring in both 2022 (22 points) and 2023 (15 points) and was an all-conference performer in 2023. Egizii scored two goals in just three games a year ago prior to her injury and has five career goals. Wright and Egizii each played on UCLA's 2022 NCAA Championship team. Immethun enters her first year as a Bruin after transferring from TCU, where she was an All-Big 12 defender and 20-game starter in 2024.
GOOD WORK, LEXI
Redshirt senior Lexi Wright was selected as a member of the inaugural Allstate NACDA Good Works Team (Fall). The award recognizes male and female student-athletes across all divisions and sports who go above and beyond in their commitment to community service, academic achievement and athletic performance. Wright supports children with cancer through Zoe's Goal-Scoring Against Childhood Cancer, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about pediatric cancer, advocates for research and funding and supports young cancer patients. Wright does regular hospital visits to UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital to visit with patients and has worked with the UCLA campus organization Unified, which plays sports with special needs kids weekly and holds an Inclusive Sports Day. She also volunteers with Football For Her, a non-profit organization that provides a safe space and motivates those who identify as female or non-binary to play, regardless of their economic standing.
IMPACT TRANSFERS
UCLA welcomes two experienced transfers to the squad in 2025 - defender Jennie Immethun and forward Oruha Hayashi. Immethun comes to UCLA from TCU, where she earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2024. She started 20 games in 2024 while helping the Big 12 champions record seven shutouts, and in 2023, she started in 10 games. Oruha joined the Bruins after two years at Iowa Western, where she twice won the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Year for Junior College Division 1. Oruha, who scored 25 goals in 2024 and 19 in 2023, was selected the 2024-25 Betty Jo Graber NJCAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Both have already made big impacts on their new team, as Immethun was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Bruins record a shutout in the season opener. She has played in every minute of every game for UCLA this year. Hayashi scored a goal in the Bruins' exhibition win over LMU and netted her first official goal as a Bruin in the 2-0 win over Long Beach State.
WELCOME FRESHMEN
The Bruins brought in a dynamic recruiting class, highlighted by U.S. Youth National Team players Sofia Atehortua, Meila Brewer, Cassidy Doogan, Daphne Nakfoor, Leena Powell and Grace Shank, and Egyptian Youth National Team player Laila Edris. Powell played in the 2025 U-20 Concacaf Championships, and Brewer helped lead the U-17s to the 4 Nations Tournament title this summer. Also joining UCLA in 2025 are freshmen Payten Cooper, Jordyn Dunn, Siena Meyer and Julia Molnar. All 11 freshmen saw action in the Bruins' exhibition against LMU, and all but Dunn and Meyer have seen action during the regular season. Nakfoor and Powell have started in each of UCLA's first four games. Cooper, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, leads the team in scoring with three points, Powell and Shank each have an assist, and Nakfoor has recorded one solo and one saved shutout while earning a 0.57 goals against average. Brewer started in the first two before missing the next two games after being called up to the U.S. Under-17 National Team for a pair of games in Spain on Aug. 28 and 31. Brewer is back with the team for this week's contests.
