(Photo Courtesy of Rand Bleimeister/UCLA Athletics)
Usual Suspects Carry UCLA Women's Soccer to Early Lead, Road Win Over Washington
The rain didn't slow down the Bruins' biggest stars Thursday night.
No. 8 UCLA women's soccer (13-0-2, 5-0-2 Pac-12) beat Washington (4-7-3, 2-3-2) by a score of 3-1 up in Seattle, powered by its two leading scorers and stalwart keeper between the posts. Junior forward Mia Fishel scored two goals and sophomore forward Reilyn Turner scored the other, while senior goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy made eight saves.
That was all despite the inclement weather, which hit the pitch in the second half and hardly let up.
Before the storm came through, the Bruins were already ahead thanks to a pair of early goals by Turner and Fishel.
Fishel, with three defenders converging on her, sent a through ball to Turner on the right side of the box. The Husky defender marking Turner had the angle on it though, with a clear path to get to the ball and clear it towards the sideline.
Turner put a swim move on the defender to get to the inside, however, and she one-timed it with her right foot, placing it directly between the keeper and the right post for the 12th-minute goal.
Fishel would join in on the scoring action herself not long after, converting on a penalty kick in the 31st minute, and UCLA went into the half leading 2-0.
It wasn't as if the Huskies didn't put any pressure on the Bruins though – they recorded four shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes and another five after halftime, also finishing the night with seven corners to their opponent's five.
That meant UCLA was going to be asking a lot out of Brzykcy, and she delivered exactly what her team needed her to.
Brzykcy contributed saves throughout almost the entire match, with her first coming in the sixth minute and last coming in the 69th.
Perhaps her most difficult save came on her third of the night in the 29th minute when she launched her body to her left to prevent a free kick goal that looked pure off the foot of forward Summer Yates.
Not every big play Brzykcy made was counted as a save, though. She was ready to shut down the Huskies when they tried to dump and chance, beating them to the ball at the very top of the box and diving on it to prevent the scoring opportunity from going any further in the 34th.
The Cougars finally broke through with a goal in the 75th minute off a corner kick, but the Bruins answered 100 seconds later when Fishel fired a volley into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
Fishel extended her team lead in goals with the Thursday night performance, now boasting 11 on the season compared to Turner's nine. The two have accounted for 20 of the Bruins' 34 goals this year, and they are now the most prolific scoring duo in the Pac-12.
Over its last two games, UCLA has now scored seven goals, their most in a two-game span so far this season. Brzykcy and the defense have also allowed one or fewer goals in 14 of the Bruins' 15 contests.
UCLA will stick around in the Evergreen State for another couple days before matching up with Washington State on Sunday. That match will kick off at 5 p.m. in Pullman.
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