University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
I Am ... Ally Courtnall
Enter Amanda Cromwell, the Bruins’ new head soccer coach, appointed in the spring of 2013. Cromwell asked Courtnall to come back to the program, a request that Courtnall politely declined. Cromwell was persistent, however, and eventually got Courtnall back to soccer by asking how she would feel if she was sitting on the couch at home while her former teammates won the national championship.
Not only did Courtnall rejoin the soccer team, but she played an integral role in the team's championship run, scoring the tying goal against Virginia with five minutes to play in the College Cup semifinal. The Bruins went on to win the game in penalty kicks and then won the championship game in overtime over Florida State. After nearly missing out on becoming a national champion altogether, Courtnall was named the College Cup’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
Courtnall’s willingness to give everything she has is apparent in her track career as well. Touted by UCLA assistant coach Joanna Hayes as “the kind of athlete who you love because it’s easier to hold an athlete back than to push an athlete forward”, Courtnall has excelled on the oval, earning All-American accolades in 2012 and qualifying for the NCAA meet in two of the last three seasons.
A student-athlete of many talents (Courtnall has dabbled in singing and modeling as well), meet Ally Courtnall in Bruin Films’ eighth installment of the “I Am ...” series.
Watch "I Am ... Ally Courtnall"
Video by: Deanna Hong, UCLA Athletics, with additional footage provided by Luke Grigg
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