Huskies Battle Back But Fall To No. 12 UCLA 3-2 In OT

Thursday, October 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:00 PM

University of Washington

6-9-1, 1-6-0

UCLA

11-3-1, 5-1-1

OT 2

Washington

UCLA

October 20, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Washington women's soccer team battled back from a 2-0 deficit early in the first half to tie it up, but fell in the first period of overtime to No. 12 UCLA 3-2 at Drake Stadium tonight.

"I'm proud of the way we battled back into the game after conceding two goals extremely early," said Washington head coach Lesle Gallimore. "We continued to create enough to get a game-winner but didn't execute."

In the fourth minute UCLA sent a cross in from the right of the goal to freshman Jessie Fleming who tapped the ball in for her ninth goal of the season. Two minutes later, the Bruins sent a rolling ball just past a diving Kaylyn Smith that found the back of the net to give the 12th ranked team an early 2-0 lead.

However, the Huskies were determined to climb back into the match, with junior Shaye Villanueva sending a ball up to captain Havana McElvaine at the top of the box just over a minute after the second UCLA score. The senior dribbled back into the middle of the field, tapping a pass forward to Kimberly Keever who sent a shot with her left foot at the lower right corner and found the back of the net, cutting the lead for UW to 2-1. The goal was Keever's third on the year, and second in the last two matches.

In the 28th minute, Keever booted a high-arcing pass into the box, finding junior Ava Lewis who had just subbed on five minutes before. Lewis collected the ball at her feet, spun around and sent a rocket across the goal that missed the outstretched glove of the Bruin keeper for the UW goal. Washington would eventually enter the half in a 2-2 draw with UCLA off of Lewis' first career goal in purple and gold.

To open up the second half UCLA took a shot in the first minute that bounced off the crossbar, marking the first of many close calls by each team. In the 49th, the Bruins sent a dangerous pass into the box, but Smith came running out to pounce on the ball before UCLA's forwards could get a foot on it. A third near miss came for the home team in the 57th minute when an offside call negated a goal.

Washington saw their own fair share of close chances, with Shannon Simon spinning and sending a lob across the box to Miranda Rawlings who just missed the shot in the 61st minute. Later in the match, McElvaine booted a great pass into the box, finding Becca Schoales who barely missed getting a foot on the ball. The junior had one last close opportunity at the end of regulation, when Schoales just got her head on a ball sent in by Pascale Dumesnil but was unable to send it toward the goal.

In the 6th minute of overtime, UCLA lobbed a ball at the Husky goal, with Fleming escaping the defense to send a header off the ground and into the back of the net to give them a 3-2 win.

"The overtime was disappointing because I thought we took our foot off the pedal defensively," said Gallimore. "We didn't track players well enough to prevent service and basically gave arguably their best player a free header that she buried to end it. That's confidence and belief, something I feel we have in our players but believe they need to dig more to find in themselves."

Washington will face another top-ranked team in the country on Sunday, when they take on No. 5 USC at 11 a.m. The match can be viewed on USC's live stream page, or you can keep up with the match by checking out the live stats page or following us on Twitter.

"We have another chance on Sunday and we will keep fighting for a result," said Gallimore. "We're good enough to get one."