Women’s Soccer Travels to Northwestern, Illlinois – UCLA

UCLA (10-2-2, 5-0-1) at Northwestern (5-6-3, 0-4-2)
Date: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 – 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT
Location: Evanston, Ill. (Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium)
Broadcast: B1G+
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com

UCLA (10-2-2, 5-0-1) at Illinois (6-5-2, 2-3-1)

Date: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2024 – 1 p.m. CT / 11 a.m. PT

Location: Champaign, Ill. (Demirjian Park)

Broadcast: B1G+

Live Stats: uclalivestats.com

BRUINS TRAVEL TO NORTHWESTERN, ILLINOIS

UCLA (10-2-2, 5-0-1) embarks on its final regular season road trip to face Northwestern and Illinois. The Bruins will first play on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT at Northwestern (5-6-3, 0-4-2) before closing the week at Illinois (6-5-2, 2-3-1) on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT.        

BOADE’S BACK

Graduate midfielder Meg Boade returns to Northwestern on Thursday as a Bruin. Boade spent four seasons in Evanston before transferring to UCLA for graduate studies this fall. At Northwestern, Boade was a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-North Region selection and a two-time first-team All-Big Ten pick. Last season, she set Northwestern’s single-season assists record with 14 assists and ranked second nationally with a 0.78 assists per game average. As a Bruin, Boade has played in all 14 games with 11 starts. She scored the game-winning goal in the Bruins’ 1-0 win over BYU and recorded an assist in her first home game against UC Riverside. 

CAMPBELL, PERRY WIN BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS

Ryan Campbell and Jayden Perry earned their first Big Ten weekly awards, being selected the Big Ten Women’s Soccer Goalkeeper and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. Campbell picked up her nation-leading 10th shutout of the season on Saturday, blanking Washington, 1-0. She recorded two saves in the game while withstanding a season-high 15 shots. Campbell, who has played in every minute of every game for the Bruins, is tied for the Big Ten lead with 10 victories, and she also ranks fifth in the nation in goals against average with 0.357. Her 10 shutouts rank eighth all-time at UCLA in single-season shutouts. Perry was also pivotal in the Bruins’ shutout victory, commanding the backline and leading the Bruin defense to its 10th shutout in 14 games. The Bruins’ team goals against average of 0.357 ranks fourth-best in the nation, and their shutout percentage of 0.714 ranks first in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation.

REALE RATED NO. 1

Senior defender Lilly Reale was rated the No. 1 player in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer in its Midseason Player Rankings. Reale has led UCLA’s defense to twice as many shutouts as goals allowed, as the Bruins have recorded 10 shutouts and allowed just five goals. She has also scored one goal, making an 85-yard run and scoring far post to score the game-winner at Cal Poly, and recorded two assists on game-winners against Santa Clara and BYU. Top Drawer Soccer noted, “Whether displaying her outstanding passing range on a cross-field switch, her athleticism on a ball-carrying drive, or her elite defensive instincts on a timely interception, Reale is the best player in college soccer.”   

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS 

Northwestern enters the week with a 5-6-3 record and is coming off a 1-1 tie at Minnesota. The Wildcats have one-goal losses to three Top 20 teams and beat No. 21 Virginia Tech on Sept. 8, 1-0.  Freshman Kennedy Roesch leads the Wildcat offense with five goals and 11 points. Close behind is Josie Aulicino, who has three goals and three assists for nine points. Goalkeeper Reiley Fitzpatrick ranks 12th nationally in minutes played (1249) and holds a 1.01 goals against average with four shutouts. 

UCLA is 2-1 all-time against Northwestern, with both victories coming in the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2017. The Bruins went on to the College Cup final in both seasons, winning the NCAA title in 2022. In that last matchup in 2022, the Bruins earned the 2-0 win over the Wildcats in the Round of Sixteen. Reilyn Turner scored the game’s first goal in the sixth minute, and Quincy McMahon added an insurance goal in the 65th, assisted by Sofia Cook.  

BIG TEN LEADERS

UCLA remains tied for first place in the Big Ten standings with 16 points (5-0-1 record), sharing the top spot with Iowa and USC. Neither the Bruins nor Trojans play the Hawkeyes this season, but UCLA and USC will face off on Oct. 27 at the L.A. Coliseum to close the regular season.  

LAST TIME OUT

On a night when UCLA honored its senior class, it was, fittingly, senior Quincy McMahon with the game-winning goal in a 1-0 shutout victory over Washington on Oct. 5. Senior defenders Jayden Perry and Alice Barbieri held it down on the back line, and graduate goalkeeper Ryan Campbell earned her nation-leading 10th shutout of the year. McMahon, starting as a forward for the first time, netted her second goal in as many games, taking a pass from Peyton Marcisz and whipping a shot past Washington’s goalkeeper to the right corner of the goal at 5:07. UCLA withstood a season-high 15 shots to record the shutout.

UCLA VS. BIG TEN

The Bruins are now 107-18-7 (.837) all-time against Big Ten teams and 30-5-1 (.847) vs. their new conference mates. UCLA has been extra formidable against the Big Ten in the NCAA Tournament, sporting a 12-2 record.  

SHUTOUT CITY

With 10 shutouts in 14 games, UCLA and goalkeeper Ryan Campbell are among the nation’s defensive leaders. Campbell is tied for first the nation with 10 shutouts and ranks fifth in goals against average (0.357). The Bruin team ranks fourth in team goals against average (0.357) and is sixth in shutout percentage (0.714). UCLA began the season with five consecutive shutouts, becoming just the second team in school history to accomplish the feat (the 2014 Bruins started out with six shutouts in a row). Campbell compiled 519 consecutive shutout minutes, just shy of Katelyn Rowland’s single-season school record 638-minute shutout streak in 2014.   

ASSISTS QUEEN

Senior defender Quincy McMahon enters this week’s game just one assist shy of breaking into UCLA’s Top 10 for career assists. She currently has 22 assists, one behind Caprice Dydasco (2011-14), Jenna Richmond (2010-13) and Lauren Wilmoth (2006-09), who are tied for ninth with 23. Lauren Barnes (2007-10) would be the next target, ranking eighth with 25. McMahon led the Bruins in assists last season with seven. She also totaled seven assists as a freshman in 2021. This season, McMahon is tied for second on the team in scoring with six points (two goals, two assists). She was recently named UCLA’s Student-Athlete of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal in the Bruins’ 1-0 win over Washington on Oct. 5. The week prior, she earned her sixth career conference defensive player of the week honor.   

FONTES MAKES TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Graduate student Sunshine Fontes has made a triumphant return back to play after missing the second half of 2023 with an ACL injury. Seeing her first action of the season at Oregon on Sept. 14, Fontes scored the tying goal in the 80th minute of UCLA’s comeback victory. On Sept. 29 against Minnesota, she recorded a pair of assists, including an assist on the game-winner. She has played in six games so far this season and played in a season-high 35 minutes in the Bruins’ last contest against Washington. Fontes’ Bruin career began on the sidelines, as her 2019 season was lost rehabbing an ACL injury suffered in her final high school game. She earned Pac-12 All-Freshman honors in her return season in 2020, ranking third on the team with five goals scored, and in 2022, she led the Bruins’ NCAA Championship team in scoring with 11 goals and 30 points. Fontes was the team’s leading scorer in 2023 with five goals and 11 points before her injury at Washington on Sept. 28.      

WHAT’S COOKING?

Junior midfielder Sofia Cook ranks second on the team in scoring with three goals and six points. All three of her goals have been game-winning goals – in the 43rd minute of a 1-0 win over Santa Clara, in the 28th minute of a 1-0 victory at Indiana, and in the 57th minute of a 2-0 win at Purdue. She ranks 19th in the nation and fifth in the Big Ten in game-winning goals. Cook has totaled 11 goals and six assists in her career.     

VIVA MEXICO

UCLA’s trio of Mexican Under-20 National Team players – America Frias, Mariangela Medina and Val Vargas – are back with the Bruins after missing the first nine games while playing at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup. Frias started for the Bruins in her first game back at Indiana, and Vargas played 73 minutes in that contest. Both Frias and Vargas started in the Bruins’ last four games. Another Mexican Youth National Team player – Bridgette Marin-Valencia – has been with the Bruins all season and is leading the team in goals with four and points with 10.  

Mexico advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, where they fell in extra time to the United States, 3-2. All three Bruins played in the game. Vargas started and scored a first-half goal. Frias was a second-half sub, and Medina came into the game late in the overtime. Just two minutes after entering the game, Medina was forced into a penalty kick situation and made the save to keep Mexico within one.   

BRUINS EARN NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Five UCLA women’s soccer players earned national preseason recognition ahead of the 2024 season. Senior defender Lilly Reale and graduate goalkeeper Ryan Campbell were selected to MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI first team and the NCAA Division I Women’s Players to Watch List. They were joined on the NCAA Players to Watch list by senior defender Quincy McMahon and graduate midfielder Meg Boade. Defender Nicki Fraser was selected to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Freshman Team. On the conference front, Reale, Boade and Emma Egizii were selected to the Big Ten Players to Watch List. 

WELCOME BACK 

UCLA returns seven starters from last season’s conference championship team and seven all-conference players in Defensive Player of the Year Lilly Reale, Quincy McMahon, Sofia Cook, Ayo Oke, Jayden Perry, Sunshine Fontes and Lexi Wright. Additionally, Val Vargas earned all-freshman honors a year ago. Wright, however, is out for the year with a knee injury. 

The Bruins’ senior class has been prolific. Reale, McMahon, Perry, Wright and Emma Egizii entered together in 2021 and won a conference title in 2021, a NCAA title in 2022 and another conference title in 2023. They have combined for seven all-conference honors and have scored 108 points (34 goals and 40 assists) collectively while posting an overall record of 64-7-6. Reale is a two-time All-American and was the Honda Award winner in 2022, as well as the Most Outstanding Defensive Player at the 2022 College Cup. 

Although not in that senior class,  Fontes has also accomplished much in her time at UCLA. After redshirting the 2019 season with a torn ACL, she competed in the 2020 season and helped UCLA win the Pac-12 title, the first of three Fontes has been a part of (2020, 2021, 2023). She was the leading scorer for the 2022 NCAA champion Bruins with 11 goals and 30 points and now has 22 career goals, 15 assists and 59 points.                 

IMPACT TRANSFERS 

UCLA welcomed four experienced transfers to the squad in 2024, including a pair of graduate transfers in goalkeeper Ryan Campbell (Stanford) and midfielder Meg Boade (Northwestern) who were named to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Players to Watch List. Campbell was the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year and a first-team All-Region selection after recording 11 solo and two combined shutouts in 2023. She also led the conference with a 0.601 goals against average. Boade broke Northwestern’s single-season assists record in 2023 with 14 assists and ranked second in the nation in assists per game with a 0.78 average. She is a two-time All-North Region and All-Big Ten honoree. UCLA also brought in a pair of former conference foes in senior midfielder Alice Barbieri (Oregon) and junior forward Lily Boyden (Washington State). Barbieri played in 55 games with 36 starts over her first three seasons and has nine career points. Boyden was a Pac-12 All-Freshman selection in 2022 after playing in 18 of 19 games for the Cougars and totaling two goals and three assists. Boyden did not play in 2023 after suffering an injury in the spring. 

All four transfers have seen significant minutes in the Bruins’ first 14 games. Campbell has recorded a nation-leading 10 shutouts and ranks fifth with a goals against average of 0.357 while playing every minute of every game. Boade has played in all 14 games with 11 starts, and she scored the game-winning goal against No. 16 BYU, along with an assist against UC Riverside. Boyden has started in eight contests and played in all 14, and Barbieri has started in eight games and played in 12.  

NO. 2 RECRUITING CLASS 

The Bruins boast Top Drawer Soccer’s No. 2 recruiting class in the nation, led by six rookies ranked in the Top 50 in No. 12 Nicki Fraser, No. 15 Kamryn Winger, No. 19 Bella Winn, No. 39 Avery Robinson, No. 46 Kara Croone and No. 50 Paloma Daubert. Sammy Sanchez is also ranked at No. 64. Also joining the team are freshmen goalkeepers Layla Armas and Mariangela Medina and forward Jordan Geis. Five of the freshmen made their collegiate debuts in the season opener. Fraser, Winn and Geis earned starts, and Daubert and Sanchez logged double-digit minutes off the bench. Robinson made her debut against UC Riverside and recorded one shot and had a near-goal hit the crossbar at Cal Poly. Geis has started in 11 games to lead the rookies, while Fraser has 10 starts. Geis’s game-winner at Oregon was her first collegiate goal and led her to her first Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week award. Daubert scored the game-winning goal against Minnesota, the first goal of her collegiate career.

SISTER ACT

Sophomore forward Sophie Reale made her collegiate debut in the season opener after redshirting the 2023 campaign, playing 36 minutes and recording two shots, including one on goal. The game marked the first time Reale and her older sister Lilly have played together in their collegiate careers and the first time that two Bruin sisters have played in the same game since Anika and Karina Rodriguez played together in 2019. Both Reale sisters made the starting lineup for the first time in the Cal Poly match, with Lilly scoring the game-winning goal.         

       

NWSL BRUINS

A total of 20 UCLA women’s soccer alumnae have been on NWSL rosters in 2024, including four from the 2023 squad. Reilyn Turner, a 99-point scorer for the Bruins and a 2023 All-American, was the No. 6 overall draft pick for Racing Louisville FC and is now playing with the Portland Thorns. Ally Lemos, who started every game of her two-year collegiate career and was a two-time all-region selection, was drafted by the Orlando Pride as the No. 9 overall pick. Ally Cook did not get drafted but earned a roster spot with the Chicago Red Stars. Cook ranked second on the team in scoring last season with nine goals and 19 points. Additionally, JaNae DeFazio was added to the Kansas City Current roster in July and made her debut on July 28. DeFazio is now playing for Racing Power FC in Portugal.