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UCLA Women's Soccer Blanks Utah, Completes Pac-12 Road Sweep

The Bruins bested the Utes from start to finish three days after doing the same to the Buffaloes.
Sam Connon|
UCLA Women's Soccer Blanks Utah, Completes Pac-12 Road Sweep
UCLA Women's Soccer Blanks Utah, Completes Pac-12 Road Sweep

The Utes tried their best to put up a fight against the visiting Bruins, but the blue and gold countered by continuing to revive their winning ways.

No. 1 UCLA women's soccer (15-1, 7-1 Pac-12) went on the road and beat Utah (6-6-4, 2-4-2 Pac-12) 3-0 on Sunday, sweeping the mountain schools after besting Colorado on Thursday. It marked the second win in a row for the Bruins, who had their perfect season cut short at Stanford on Oct. 14.

The Utes had just one win in their past six outings, however, four of which they finished without a goal. Those cold streaks continued for Utah on Sunday, with UCLA stringing together its fifth clean sheet in six games.

Graduate goalkeeper Lauren Bryzkcy did a lot of the heavy lifting in the shutout effort, racking up four saves. Freshman Neeku Purcell stepped in for the final 11 minutes, though, closing things out with another save in the 89th minute.

Both keepers had plenty of cushion to work with, considering the attack had converted early and slowly built its lead throughout the contest.

Sophomore forward Lexi Wright got the scoring started in the 18th minute, receiving a low cross from junior midfielder MacKenzee Vance and one-timing it in for the lead.

Freshman midfielder Sofia Cook did it all herself to pick up the Bruins' second goal of the day, capitalizing on a Ute defender getting tangled up while receiving a pass. Cook scooped it up and made a go for goal, firing one from the top of the box and getting it just past the diving keeper's glove on the right side of the goal.

The Bruins added one more insurance goal in the 73rd minute, right after the defense suffocated the Utes' attack and completed a key tackle. After a few passes around the middle third, sophomore midfielder Emma Egizii sent a long pass up the middle that just got by a lunging defender.

Graduate forward Ally Cook outran the last defender to chase down the ball, and she took one outside touch to get by the keeper. Cook tapped it in with her left foot to make it 3-0.

The Bruins outshot the Utes 13-9 overall and 7-4 in shots on target.

UCLA will return home for its next game against Washington State on Thursday. With three regular season showdowns remaining, the Bruins won't have to leave Los Angeles again, likely until the College Cup, should they make it that far in the NCAA tournament.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF UCLA ATHLETICS

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.

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