Bruins Reach for the Top

It is a pioneering season for the UCLA women’s soccer team. But to win their first NCAA championship, the Bruins will have to do it against the sport’s true pioneer.

North Carolina effectively put women’s collegiate soccer on the map. It was one of the few schools that competed in the days of the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The program has also been instrumental in the sport’s increasing popularity, providing the U.S. national team with such players as Mia Hamm, April Heinrichs, Kristine Lilly and Tisha Venturini.

The Tar Heels have also won 15 NCAA titles and will play in their 18th championship match in 19 years. As much as UCLA tried to say it is just another match, they are not just another opponent.

“I asked [my players] if they had heard of Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly and their response was yes,” UCLA Coach Jillian Ellis said. “I told them this is the legend of what UNC has built, but they will not be on the field. You are going to play against players you have faced before.

“We want to build our own dynasty and we get that chance to start the dynasty.”

It is heady talk by Ellis. It is rubbing off on the players, who don’t fear the Tar Heels, college soccer’s version of the New York Yankees.

“We don’t feel any pressure on ourselves,” senior midfielder Venus James said. “There is no pressure on us from inside to win. We just have to go out and play the best we possibly can [today].”

Junior midfielder Breana Boling said the team is well aware of North Carolina’s tradition.

“It’s a bit intimidating, although we have a great team,” Boling said. “We are pretty confident in ourselves and the way we play. I see it as a challenge and I think we are all ready to take that challenge.”

Ellis said that if anyone feels pressure, it is North Carolina.

“Carolina probably has the pressure on them because they have the legacy,” she said. “I always tell my team you want to be the hunter and not the hunted. [Today], we want to hunt.”

UCLA (19-3-1) answered any questions about its inexperience in the semifinals Friday. Junior Stephanie Rigamat scored her eighth game-winning goal of the season to provide the 1-0 victory over Portland.

Ellis displayed sharp tactical skills as she alternated using two and three forwards throughout the match while constantly changing combinations up front. It also helps to have players like Sarah-Gayle Swanson, the team’s leading goal scorer with 14, coming off the bench to challenge tired defenses.

It was Swanson and Staci Duncan who put dents in the Portland defense by setting up several opportunities in the first half.

North Carolina Coach Anson Dorrance was impressed.

“They are athletic and quick,” Dorrance said. “We play a high-risk system, and they’ve got the kind of personalities that would be excited to play that system.

“I think it’s remarkable what [Ellis] has done [with the program]. This year’s team is twice as good as the one we saw last year. I was absolutely entertained by what I saw [Friday] night.”

On the other side, UCLA’s defense must contend with Tar Heel forward Meredith Florance. Florance, a senior, leads the nation in scoring with 25 goals and 58 points and she had a goal in last year’s 2-0 title-game win over Notre Dame.

The Bruin defense, nicknamed the “No Goal Patrol,” has given up only eight and one in four postseason matches.

“Our back line has been playing well and they continue to get better,” Ellis said.

Dorrance isn’t taking the Bruins lightly. Even with all the titles, he said it isn’t inconceivable that his team can be beat.

Even if it is 65-3 in NCAA tournament play.

“The University of Florida swept in a couple of years ago. I don’t think they’d ever been to the Final Four and bang, bang, they swept through it,” Dorrance said. “UCLA is having that kind of season.”

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NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship

At Spartan Stadium, San Jose

Today

* North Carolina (20-3-0) vs. UCLA (19-3-1), 12:30 p.m. (ESPN2)