December 22, 2009 THE YEAR’S TOP STORIES - No. 10 Another semifinal stall for Bruins women
The UCLA women’s seventh staright trip to the NCAA College Cup – and seventh straight semifinal loss – ranks 10th on LASoccerNews’ list of the top ten stories of 2009.
The Bruins rallied from a goal down, sending their December 4 semifinal against Stanford into overtime with Lauren Cheney’s 75th-minute goal, but fell 2-1 when Kristin Press scored the Cardinal’s golden goal.
Kelley O’Hara put Stanford (25-0) on top in the 64th minute. The play started in the back with defender Alicia Jenkins, who played a ball forward to Press. Press sent it ahead to Lindsay Taylor who dropped it back to Press. The first team All-America then centered the ball to O'Hara just to the right of the penalty arc. O'Hara turned to her right toward the middle, then cut left two strides and right footed the ball high over UCLA goalkeeper Chante’ Sanford.
The goal was O’Hara’s 26th of the season.
The Cardinal didn’t hold the lead for long, as Cheney equalized in the 75th minute. A long throw in came to midfielder Kyle Wright. Wright played the ball to Cheney who turned to her right and went around a defender with her first touch before launching a shot from the top of the 18 to the opposite side of the net.
It was the first time this season the Cardinal had relinquished a lead.
Press put the game away in the fourth minute of overtime, pouncing on a ball that came off a defenders head and putting a low 20-yard shot past Sanford.
Despite the scoreless first 63 minutes, both teams had plenty of opportunities. In the 26th minute, Kristina Larsen rifled a hard shot on goal that was stopped by diving Stanford goalkeeper Kira Maker.
In the 33rd minute, UCLA’s Sydney Leroux broke in on the left, Cheney got in front of her defender and ran onto the ball, but her shot went wide to the left.
Cheney got a ball played right to her feet in the 42nd minute, but her shot ricocheted off a defender and went right to Maker.
O’Hara had a great opportunity to give the Cardinal the lead in the 58th minute, when she broke in on the left side when Sandiford had come out of the goal to try and retrieve the ball, but the UCLA defense closed down around her.
After the two goals, both teams pressed for the regulation winner. Mariah Noguiera got a head on a serve into the box, but her shot was stopped by Sandiford in the 85th minute
A minute later, UCLA’s Leroux beat a pair of defenders to the ball and got off a quick shot that went high.
Standford’s Lindsay Taylor had a 90th minute shot go wide, and just seconds later, O’Hara almost ended the game when she got past Sandiford who was on the ground, but her shot hit the post.
