Bucciarelli Kicking Her Scoreless Habit
The drought has ended.
It had been two games, two whole games, since Nicole Bucciarelli scored a goal for the UC Irvine women’s soccer team. Two games, an eternity, according to Anteater Coach Marine Cano.
Everyone at Irvine can rest easy now. Bucciarelli, a junior striker, stole a pass and scored in the 29th minute against Pepperdine Wednesday--her 10th goal of the season--in a 1-0 victory.
“Booch has gone dry for a couple games,” Cano said before the Pepperdine game. “She has to pick it up.”
Pressure, pressure.
Still, it comes with the Alaska-sized territory Bucciarelli has carved for herself. In less than three seasons, she has obliterated Anteater scoring records.
She scored her 74th career point earlier this season to surpass Shawna Berke’s record. Bucciarelli, who has 39 goals, long ago went past Kim Cusimano’s record 26. As for the single-season record, Bucciarelli tied it with 12 as a freshman, then buried it with 17 last season.
“Booch is a household word with other coaches now,” Cano said. “I’m sure her name is on a lot of refrigerator doors.
“She is a natural goal scorer. She has a knack for it. She can read the field as a game develops and knows where she is at all times. That gets goals.”
It has been that way since she arrived at Irvine. As a freshman, Bucciarelli sat on the bench for the first 20 minutes in the season opener against Hawaii. When Cano put her in, she scored. She has started ever since.
“Good coaching,” Cano said.
Still, all this goal scoring, or at least all this talk about it, makes Bucciarelli uneasy. She becomes flustered--like the numerous defenders she has suckered--and fidgets when asked about it.
“I feel I have a role here, you know,” she said, almost apologizing. “We all have a role on this team. It’s my job, you know. It’s what I do, you know.”
Opponents, though, do know and are not easily drawn in by such sheepish off-field behavior. When the Anteaters faced USC recently, the Trojans made sure Bucciarelli wasn’t lonely. At one point, three Trojan players were marking her.
Quite a compliment for a player whose own coach says isn’t the most skilled. Of course, there are skills and there are goals. Of the two, Cano certainly prefers the latter.
What Bucciarelli may lack in raw ability, she makes up for in sheer endurance. There are few players who can keep up with her.
“She has never been the most skilled player out there,” Cano said. “She uses that to her advantage sometimes. A player will drop off her a little bit and she turns on the speed. All of a sudden, she’s gone. She gets to the far post and taps one in. She’s very crafty.”
Bucciarelli has been developing her field sense since she began playing as a 5-year-old. Her father, Sam, coached her until she joined a club team in the seventh grade. The training wasn’t always left to the field.
“My brother and I would play in the house,” Bucciarelli said. “We would use the hallway entrance as the goal and kick the ball at each other.”
What’s a broken lamp or two when there’s a little fine tuning to be done?
Bucciarelli was a two-time Los Angeles City player of the year. She scored 48 goals to lead Van Nuys Grant High School to the city championship. Still, only two Division I coaches were interested--Cano and Pepperdine’s George Kuntz, now the Irvine men’s coach.
“I knew I had a diamond in the rough,” Cano said. “I saw that she could score goals. She’s been in a drought lately, but when she breaks out of it, it will be an explosion.”
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If opponents think Bucciarelli is focused on the field, they should see her eat.
“We were at a restaurant during a road trip and I heard all the players laughing,” Cano said. “I looked over and Booch had a fork in one hand, eating her dinner, and a spoon of whipped cream in the other hand. I asked the players what she was doing and they said, ‘She is going to have whipped cream when she’s done.’ I guess she needed to have it close by. Booch does everything her own way.”
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The Anteaters gave up three second half goals in a 5-1 loss at North Texas Friday. It was their third loss in four games. Irvine lost five of six at a similar point last season.
“We have two lulls every season,” Cano said. “One when school starts and one at midterms. . .We were smoking before school started.”
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The men’s soccer team ended a 10-game road winless streak with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara Sunday. The Anteaters went 0-7-3 on the road after beating Cal State Northridge, 3-2, Oct. 20, 1996.
On the other hand, Irvine is 4-0-4 at home--3-0-1 this season--since losing to Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 4, 1996.
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There may be more losses than wins in Pat Douglass’ future--at least for this season--but why should Irvine’s first-year men’s basketball coach let that spoil a perfectly good lunch?
He showed he can at least talk a good game.
“I got all these calls from other coaches right after I got this job,” Douglass said at last Tuesday’s College Basketball Tipoff Luncheon at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. “I thought they were calling to congratulate me or to play golf. Instead, they all wanted to schedule us. That’s when I became aware of the power ratings.”
Irvine was 1-25 last season.
Douglass, who brought in eight new players, will see his team en masse for the first time when the Anteaters begin practice Saturday. He already has seen some play, on video tape from last season games.
“I watched some tapes from last season, but I started feeling sick to my stomach,” Douglass said at the luncheon. “I was worried about too much weight loss, so I had to stop.”
Notes
Ryan Williams was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player of the week in water polo. Williams had two two-point goals in the Anteaters’ 7-6 victory over UCLA Friday.
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Coming Attractions
Key upcoming games for UC Irvine:
* Men’s and women’s cross-country compete in the Arkansas Invitational Saturday in Fayetteville.
* Men’s soccer hosts Cal State Northridge 8 p.m. Friday and UCLA noon Sunday.
* Women’s soccer hosts Utah State 6 p.m. Friday and San Diego State 2 p.m. Sunday.
* Women’s volleyball hosts Boise State Friday and Idaho Saturday. Both matches are at 7 p.m. in Crawford Hall.
* Water polo plays at Stanford 2 p.m. Friday and in the NorCal Tournament Saturday and Sunday also at Stanford.
