University of Washington
UCLA
UW Women Fall to Top-Ranked UCLA
November 11, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 11, 2007
SEATTLE - Danesha Adams scored twice during the opening 11 minutes Sunday, leading top-ranked UCLA to a 3-0 victory over the Washington women in the final regular-season game for both teams at Husky Soccer Field.
The Bruins (16-1-2) won their third straight Pac-10 championship, becoming the third team to register a perfect 9-0 record in conference games. The other Pac-10 titlists with unblemished ledgers were Stanford in 2002 and UCLA in 1997.
Washington completed the season with a 5-13-1 record. The Huskies finished seventh in the Pac-10 standings with a 2-6-1 conference mark.
"It's not the way we wanted to come out," said UW coach Lesle Gallimore. "Obviously we made some lineup changes to give seniors some opportunities. It was the right thing to do and I was hopeful that we could come out and defensively put on a little bit more of an effort as far as keeping them out of our net. We let them kind of walk over us the first 15 minutes."
Adams opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game. She received a pass from Lauren Cheney who was streaking down the right side. Adams collected the pass in the center of the box and sent a 15-yard strike into the goal at 2:33.
The Bruins got a second goal from Adams at 10:56. She received a pass from Christina DiMartino and dribbled down the center of the field before unleashing a 12-yard blast into the Husky goal. That was the 11th goal of the season for Adams, the second-highest total for a Bruin.
UCLA's top-scoring figure belongs to Cheney who increased her goal output to 20 with the third goal of the game. Cheney dribbled down the left flank and angled in toward the goal before placing a 15-yard shot into the back of the net at 17:54.
Shortly after the goal, Cheney was ejected and the Bruins were down a player the rest of the game. She received a red card at 24:38 after an altercation with Husky sophomore Nikki Murray who was whistled for a foul on the play.
Sunday's game marked the final collegiate contest for six UW seniors. All six of them were in the opening lineup, including goalkeeper Lizzy Showman (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep) who drew her first start.
Showman played well in goal, recording four saves. She made two stellar stops on Bruin breakaway attempts.
"Lizzy Showman I thought showed well in the second half," Gallimore said. "She came up with some good saves and had a lot to do. I'm really happy for her to be able to feel good about that."
The Huskies' other seniors are Robin Alexander, Dani Bridges, Katie Buser, Katy Dowling and Shuree Hyatt.
The Bruins out shot UW 9-2 during the first half. The Huskies had a 9-3 advantage after halftime, narrowing the final shot deficit to 12-11 in UCLA's favor.
"I'm proud of my kids for battling and staying in it. We picked it up in the second half," exclaimed Gallimore. "This game is about finishing. With the chances we created, corner kicks at 8-0 and the shot count almost even, we should have had some goals."
UCLA goalkeeper Valerie Henderson saved four shots before being replaced in the 75th minute by Ashley Thompson who stopped one UW attempt. Those two combined for the Bruins' 11th shutout.
At game's end, Gallimore was already anxiously looking forward to next season.
"We'll look at some things and try to get better next year. This isn't where I expect us to be this time of year. We don't want to be finished this early. We've got to find a way to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
"We're excited about our young kids and the kids we are bringing in next year. We are going to work hard to fix some things and make sure that we're not done the last weekend of the regular season again."
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Husky Soccer Field; Seattle, Wash.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007
(#1) UCLA 3, Washington 0
Scoring
--1, UCLA, Danesha Adams (Lauren Cheney), 2:33. 2, UCLA, Danesha Adams (Christina DiMartino), 10:56. 3, UCLA, Lauren Cheney, 17:54.Shots -- UCLA 12, UW 11.
Saves -- UCLA 5 (Valerie Henderson 4, Ashley Thompson 1), UW 4 (Lizzy Showman).
Corner Kicks -- UCLA 0, UW 8.
Fouls -- UCLA 9, UW 13.
Attendance -- 1,376.
Records:
Washington 5-13-1, 2-6-1 Pac-10
UCLA 16-1-2, 9-0-0 Pac-10.
