UC San Diego’s Women’s club soccer made the travel to UC Los Angeles to play their final match of the season on October 22nd. Scoring four consecutive shutouts the weekend before in the UCSB Invitational, their spot in Regionals, this upcoming weekend in Arizona was secured, however this game was crucial in order to be successful in regionals in regard to their seating.

The match kicked off at 2:16 pm. UC San Diego was off to a great start, maintaining possession and working the ball around the field trying to find an opening through UCLA’s zoned defense. UCLA was able to make a few possessions for them to only be quickly shut down by UC San Diego’s solid defense in the early minutes of the game. Come the 22nd minute, a deflection sprung from UCLA’s center midfielder with the ball landing right on top of the back line where UCLA’s #14 was in position to sneak behind the defense and tap the ball into the back of the net. The home team was quite roused by their lead and continued strong, while the UC San Diego players worked hard to get the goal back. The first half ended with UCLA in a one, nil lead.

Into the second half, UC San Diego once again came out with the fervor they possessed at the start of the game. Twenty-six minutes in, freshman McKenzie Kirn from the midfield sent a ball across the field to the forwards where our very own Laurel Bowling was running wide down the left flank and with one solid touch sent the ball past the keeper to tie the game up. Team UC San Diego seemed to have found their rhythm in the upper third off the field as numerous shots were taken.

The final whistle resulted in a one to one draw, nonetheless a satisfying game for the significant crowd filled with parents visiting for parent weekend from both schools.