College Soccer Saturday: Bruins-Trojans Showdown Looms & More
No, not today's pointy-ball game.
UCLA and USC will meet in the semifinals of the women's soccer final four for the first time ever Dec. 7 in Texas after the Bruins beat Portland 3-2 at chilly Drake Stadium Friday night in a double overtime thriller and the Trojans improbably won 1-0 on the road in usually virtually impregnable West Virginia.
Freshman Kasey Johnson of Sierra Madre must feel she's living a dream, having scored the winner for USC for the second consecutive game.
Forward Danesha Adams, who scored the Bruins' winning goal sounded giddy:
“To get that goal at the end was an amazing feeling,” said Adams, who tied the UCLA career record for game-winning goals with her 25th. “It’s my senior year and I don’t want to go home. I don’t want this to ever end. I want to always wear this UCLA Bruin jersey.”
UCLA Coach Jill Ellis was proud of the way her team came back from the confidence-battering tying goal so close to the final whistle in regulation:
“Giving up that goal feels gut-wrenching,” she said. “But to come back, that’s the greatest lesson for these guys at this point. They showed that they can bounce back. I told them before the overtime period, that we just controlled the second half of the game and now we have to finish it. This was tremendous.”
Over in New Zealand, the David Beckham-led Galaxy disposed of the Wellington Phoenix, 4-1.
Two vastly differing reactions are available including this soccer version from an enthusiastic AP writer infatuated with Becks the player (although he does get Galaxy striker Carlos Pavon's last name wrong).
The writer from the New Zealand Herald seems more infatuated with the crowd's reaction to Beckham's chest than the game.
The two reports contradict each other over whether the game sold out, too.
Lastly, here are the highlights of the visit from a locals' perspective.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook.
That AP writer clearly did not watch the Galaxy-Wellington game. He completely botched the descriptions of Mathis' goal and Pavon's goal.
On Mathis' goal, Becks passed to Donovan, who chested it down and dribbled in the box, shot the ball and it deflected to Mathis, who shot it in.
On Pavon's goal, Becks sent a long pass to Donovan, who handled the ball deftly just outside the box on the left side, then crossed the ball to Mathis on the right, who shot under the keeper and it rolled to Pavon, who tapped it in from 2 feet out. I have no idea where that writer came up with his description of Becks turning two defenders and laying the ball off to Pavon - must have been in his imagination.