Eighth-seeded UCLA scored four unanswered goals in a 30-minute span in the second half and ousted Sacramento State, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Drake Stadium on Sunday night. Sophomore forward Chandler Hoffman extended his scoring streak to four games with two goals, and freshmen Reed Williams and Victor Chavez also scored for the Bruins.
The first half was a scoreless but entertaining affair that saw a few big saves by Sacramento State goalkeeper Cesar Castillo and a clearance off the line by UCLA defender Joe Sofia. The Bruins averted a first-half deficit at the 33:31 mark when a shot by Hornet midfielder Fernando Cabadas hit the left post and ricocheted off UCLA goalkeeper Brian Rowe’s arm away from danger.
UCLA exploded in the second half for four goals. Hoffman netted his first of the night at 54:40. Kelyn Rowe started the play with a shot that was blocked. Evan Raynr got to the ball and fired a shot from the right side, and Castillo made a kick save on the shot, but the ball ricocheted off Hoffman in front of the goal and went in.
Williams doubled up UCLA’s score at 57:24 with his fifth goal of the year, with Kelyn Rowe getting the assist. Hoffman got his second goal of the game and fifth of the season at 72:44 after a textbook breakaway. Williams got free on the left side and sent a pass to Raynr up the middle. Raynr sent a ball to Hoffman on the right side, and he split two Hornet defenders and shot past Castillo to the left corner. Chavez rounded out UCLA’s scoring with an impressive goal at 84:14, his team-leading ninth of the season. With a Hornet defender guarding him closely, Chavez back-heeled the ball, spun his defender and hit a shot to the right corner of the goal while halfway to the ground. Ryan Hollingshead and Zack Foxhoven earned the assists.
Sacramento State got a goal of its own in the 87th minute on a 20-yard shot by Ernesto Carranza, but it was too little too late for the Hornets, who finished their season 11-5-7.
"We started out the game a little bit slowly," said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. "I thought some of the guys seemed nervous, and it took us a little bit to get going, but in the second half how can you not be happy with four goals? Our production in front of goal in the second half was very good."
With the win, UCLA (15-4-1) advances to the NCAA third round, where it will face Dartmouth (12-6-1), a 2-1 overtime winner over ninth-seeded Notre Dame. The third round contest will take place at Drake Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 5 pm.
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - UCLA sophomore forward Chandler Hoffman was named Pac-10 Men’s Soccer Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 2-8, Commissioner Larry Scott announced today.
Making his first starts of the season, the Birmingham, Ala., native scored a pair of goals as the Bruins picked up two big road wins at Washington and Oregon State to stay alive in the Pac-10 Conference race. Hoffman scored the game’s only goal in a 1-0 thriller over the Huskies on Friday. The goal, which came in the 64th minute, was Hoffman’s first of the year since missing the first 11 games of the season with a leg fracture suffered on the first day of preseason training. Hoffman scored his second goal of the weekend in the 3-0 victory over the Beavers on Sunday, striking in the 75th minute, and also tallied five shots.
This is Hoffman’s first career weekly honor and UCLA’s 41st all-time Pac-10 Player of the Week.
With the two victories, No. 9 UCLA improved to 13-4-1 overall and 7-2-0 in the Conference. The Bruins travel to San Diego State for their regular-season finale.
2010 Pac-10 Players of the Week
Sept. 7 - A.J. Soares, CAL
Sept. 14 - Davis Paul, CAL
Sept. 21 - Dominique Yahyavi, STAN
Sept. 27 - Taylor Mueller, WASH
Oct. 5 - Victor Chavez, UCLA
Oct. 12 - A.J. Soares, CAL
Oct. 19 - Cameron Lamming, STAN
Oct. 26 - Davis Paul, CAL
Nov. 2 - Steve Birnbaum, CAL
Nov. 9 - Chandler Hoffman, UCLA
Top Drawer Soccer - Article
Chandler Hoffman, former BUSA Development Academy player, speaks about injury and comeback.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Five members of the No. 6 Texas A&M soccer team received All-Big 12 honors, the conference office announced on Monday.
Seniors Rachel Shipley and Alyssa Mautz, juniors Bri Young and Merritt Mathias, and freshman Rachel Lenz were named to the All-Big 12 first team. This is the first time since 1996 that five Aggies have earned first-team accolades. Mathias and Lenz were also selected to the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team.
Mathias (Birmingham, Ala.) has earned the Big 12 Player of the Week honor twice since transferring to A&M this season. She posts nine goals, five assists, 29 points, and four game winners for the Aggies. Mathias has 69 shots, with 34 on goal.
November 3, 2010 - Former BUSA ’90 Player named All SEC. Frierson, a junior midfielder from Homewood, is on the First Team for the third consecutive season, joining former Auburn standouts Ronda Brooks (2004-06) and Kristen Schier (1994-95, 1997) as the only three-time First Team All-SEC selections in school history, though she is the only one to be named to it in her first three seasons. In 19 games this season, she leads the SEC with 12 assists, is third with 26 points and is tied for seventh with seven goals. A vital piece to the Auburn offense, she has recorded at least one point in all 11 Auburn wins this season, which includes five games in which she has factored into more than one Auburn goal. Her four game-winning goals lead the team and is tied for second in the conference. She was previously voted a Preseason All-SEC by the league coaches.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Alabama soccer team garnered three All-Southeastern Conference honors the league office announced Tuesday. Newcomer Molly Atherton (Gulfport, Miss.) was named to the All-Freshmen team.
Atherton came to the Capstone ranked by TopDrawer as one of the top freshmen, and she did not disappoint. The newcomer tallied two points on two assists and started in all 18 matches. She logged 90 or more minutes on six different occasions, including three in a row to finish the season. The Gulfport, Miss., native fired off 40 shots which ranked second on the team and put 17 on frame.
"Molly created a nice foundation for herself by playing nearly every minute of every SEC game this season," Bramble said. "She showed impressive composure and technique under pressure as a freshman, battling in the center of the midfield."
Merritt Mathias Earns Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week
Former BUSA '90 player Merritt Mathias Earns Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week
Oct. 19, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M forward Merritt Mathias was named the Big 12 Soccer Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
Mathias footed both game-winning goals for the Aggies in their defeat of Iowa State, 1-0 in overtime, and Missouri, 4-2, extending the team’s winning streak to six matches. Accumulating seven points on the weekend, the junior transfer had 12 shots, six on frame, and one assist on the way to scoring three goals for the Aggies.
Mathias is ranked third in the league in shots (69) and shots per game (4.31). The Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honor is the first of her career and her second conference award of the season.
Mathias and the sixth-ranked Aggies return home for a pair of games this weekend. A&M faces Oklahoma on Senior Night Friday at 7:30 p.m. followed by a match against No. 5 Oklahoma State at 1:30 p.m. Sunday
Frierson named SEC and NSCAA Player of the Week!
Sept. 8, 2010
Junior midfielder Katy Frierson has been named the Southeastern Conference women’s soccer Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday!
Katy Frierson (BUSA '90) named Top player in Country
Sept. 2, 2010
Junior midfielder Katy Frierson has been tabbed the top player in the country in the initial TopDrawerSoccer.com National Top 100 Women To Watch, the website revealed on Thursday.
Frierson, from Homewood, leads Auburn with six points on the young season, scoring two goals (both game-winners) and collecting two assists as Auburn has started out the season 2-1-0. A First Team All-SEC selection as both a freshman and sophomore, she has been selected to the Preseason All-SEC team by the league’s coaches and is on the Hermann Trophy Watch List, which honors the top collegiate player.
Frierson, the only player in the top 20 on the list to play in the SEC, has registered 51 career points in just over two years of playing time, scoring 16 goals and assisting on 19, all of which already rank inside Auburn’s career top 10 lists.
