Bruin women sweep in NCAA Tournament

A hot soccer match on a cold night at Drake Stadium sent UCLA to the College Cup — the NCAA’s Final Four — with its No. 1 ranking intact with a 3-2 double-overtime win Friday night over Portland. A few hours earlier, the No. 8-seeded Bruin volleyball team finished a rout of Alabama A&M in its opening match at the NCAA Tournament in Clemson, S.C.

>> For the UCLA women’s soccer team, victory came only after 104 minutes of play as senior midfielder Danesha Adams (pictured) scored her second goal of the night with an assist from Lauren Barnes. The Bruins trailed, 1-0, at halftime as Portland, ranked second in the region, was the aggressor with six shots to UCLA’s four. But the Bruin attack came alive in the second half, with eight shots and goals in the 51st minute from Adams for a tie and then in the 72nd minute when striker Kara Lang headed in a cross from midfielder Christina DiMartino.

UCLA’s 2-1 lead looked like it might hold up, but Portland’s Angie Woznuk scored in the 89th minute to force overtime. Neither team scored in the first overtime period, even though UCLA piled up six shots to Portland’s one. But 3:58 into the second overtime, Barnes sent a corner kick toward the Portland goal and Adams headed it into the net for the winner.

The Bruins are now 20-1-2 while Portland ends its season at 18-4-0. Incredibly, UCLA will travel all the way to College Station, Texas, for the national semifinals next Friday . . . to face cross-town rival USC (18-3-2) for the right to play for the national title. In their only meeting of the year at Drake Stadium, the Bruins defeated USC, 2-0, on Oct. 26. Notre Dame and Florida State will play in the other semifinal.

>> The Bruin women’s volleyball team simply overwhelmed Alabama A&M, 30-9, 30-13 and 30-14 to move into the NCAA second round Saturday against host Clemson.

The match was so one-sided that Coach Andy Banachowski rested most of his regulars in the third game and UCLA set a school record for the fewest points given up in a match with 36. That was seven points fewer than the old mark of 43, achieved only twice since the switch to rally scoring (point per serve) in 2001. Alabama A&M ended the season with a record of 15-10.

The Bruins hit an almost unheard of .420 for the match. Kaitlin Sather had a team-high 11 kills and junior All-American setter Nellie Spicer had 25 assists in two games.

Sather said afterward, "It's so fun when everyone gets to play. We all train the same amount of hours. It's not as if everybody gets time off whether you're playing or not. Everyone played hard." She didn’t seem too concerned about playing against host Clemson on the road, either, noting, "I've been to Nebraska a few times, so I think we're ready. I'm not necessarily worried about the crowd because of our past experience dealing with large crowds. It's a small gym, which is different from Pauley Pavilion. But the Pac-10 is the best preparation you can have. Going into the tournament, we are really prepared for strong teams."

Danesha Adams photo courtesy of UCLA