Women's Soccer Travels to Oregon for First Pac-12 Road Trip

No. 1 UCLA (9-0-0, 1-0-0) at Oregon (3-2-4, 1-0-0)
Date/Time: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 – 7pm
Location: Eugene, Ore. (Pape Field)
Broadcast: Pac-12 Insider
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com

No. 1 UCLA (9-0-0, 1-0-0) at Oregon State (4-3-2, 0-1-0)
Date/Time: Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 – 12pm
Location: Corvallis, Ore. (Paul Lorenz Field)
Television: Pac-12 Oregon
Talent: Ann Schatz
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com

BRUINS HEAD TO OREGON
Top-ranked UCLA (9-0-0, 1-0-0 in the Pac-12) makes its first conference road trip of the season, traveling to Oregon to face the Oregon Ducks (3-2-4, 1-0-0) on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7pm and the Oregon State Beavers (4-3-2, 0-1-0) on Sunday, Oct. 3 at Noon.

PERFECT START
With a perfect 9-0-0 record, UCLA is off to its best start since winning its first 11 games in 2001. The Bruins had won their first eight games in both 2021 and 2020-21. UCLA remains the only team left in NCAA Division I women's soccer with an unblemished mark.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE NUMBER ONE
For the fourth consecutive week, UCLA ranks No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and the Top Drawer Soccer poll. The Bruins are also ranked No. 1 in the first NCAA RPI. The last time UCLA held the top spot in the United Soccer Coaches poll prior to this season was 2017, when the Bruins were No. 1 for five weeks from Sept. 5-Oct. 3. UCLA's Sept. 4 win over No. 1 North Carolina was its second ever over a top-ranked team and second in a row after beating No. 1 Florida State on Aug. 29, 2019.

SCOUTING THE DUCKS
Oregon handed No. 15 Washington its first loss of the season on Friday, 2-0, behind a 14-save shutout performance from goalkeeper Leah Freeman. Ajanae Respass scored her team-leading fourth goal of the season in the first half for the game-winning goal. Freeman leads the Pac-12 in saves (64) and save percentage (.842).

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
Oregon State is coming off a close 1-0 loss to Washington State in the conference opener. The Beavers are led by sophomore forward McKenna Martinez, who already has 18 goals in one and a half seasons, including six this year. Martinez was an All-Pacific Region third-team selection as a freshman in 2021.

LAST TIME OUT
In the conference opener against Cal on Sept. 23, the unbeaten Bruins found themselves trailing in the game for just the second time this season after a 21st minute Golden Bears goal but came roaring back to equalize less than three minutes later on a Maricarmen Reyes goal. Eight minutes later, Reyes struck again to give UCLA the lead. A 58th-minute Ally Cook goal put the Bruins ahead 3-1, and after Cal closed to one, a late Bridgette Marin-Valencia goal sealed UCLA's ninth consecutive win and extended the Bruins' conference unbeaten streak to 17.

ROLLING IN THE DEEP
With Bridgette Marin-Valencia's first collegiate goal against California, UCLA has had 12 different players score goals this season. A total of 30 players have seen game action, with 25 playing three games or more. Fifteen players have three or more starts.

BRZYKCY WINS RECORD EIGHTH PAC-12 GOALKEEPER OF WEEK AWARD
Senior Lauren Brzykcy has been honored as the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week three times this season, running her career total to eight, which ties former teammate Teagan Micah for most in school and conference history. Brzykcy has been a nearly impenetrable brick wall this season, leading the Pac-12 in GAA (0.61), wins (9) and shutouts (4 solo, 1 shared) and ranking second in save percentage (.889). Brzykcy tied her career-high in single-game saves with nine at No. 2 Duke, and she has moved into UCLA's Top 5 in career saves with 187 and counting. With 24 career shutouts, Brzykcy is two away from the Top 5, and her 46 career wins put her in fifth place all-time at UCLA.

VIVA MEXICO
UCLA's Mexican National Team players Maricarmen Reyes, Bridgette Marin-Valencia and America Frias all saw action for the first time together as Bruins on Sept. 11 vs. Cal State Fullerton. Marin-Valencia and Frias made their UCLA debuts after missing the early part of the season while competing at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Reyes, who plays on the full national team, scored the game-winner, a sharp-angled screamer for her second goal of the season, and Marin-Valencia picked up her first assist. Reyes and Marin-Valencia teamed up to assist on the Bruins' second goal at Pepperdine on Sept. 18, and they combined for three goals (two from Reyes) in UCLA's 4-2 win over Cal on Sept. 23. Reyes ranks second on the team in scoring with nine points (4g, 1a), and Marin-Valencia has four points (1g, 2a) in just four games.

TURNER BURNS ANOTHER TOP 10 TEAM
Junior forward Reilyn Turner has stepped up on the biggest stages this season, with all three of her goals coming against Top 10 teams on the road, and all three being game-winners. Her first goal came at No. 2 Duke on Sept. 1, a second-half goal to break a 1-1 tie. Three days later, she scored the game-winner in the 84th minute to beat No. 1 North Carolina. Turner made it 3-for-3 when she scored the opening goal in the Bruins' 4-0 win at No. 9 Pepperdine. Turner is tied for the Pac-12 lead with three game-winning goals.

RETURN OF THE MAC
Midfielder MacKenzee Vance has finally seen her first collegiate action after tearing her ACL in January of 2020 and missing the last two seasons. In just her third game, Vance scored her first goal at Pepperdine, collecting a long pass from Madelyn Desiano, swerving past the charging goalkeeper and shooting into the empty net. Vance, who hails from Bluffton, S.C., was a member of U.S. Youth National Teams from 2015-20.

KALI COMEBACK
Senior forward Kali Trevithick has spent the better part of her four years on the injured list, having undergone multiple knee surgeries. She began her freshman season on a tear, scoring two goals and two assists in the team's first two exhibition games and started the first four regular season contests before a knee injury knocked her out until November. She played the final six games of the year and totaled two goals and one assist. She missed all but the final two games of the 2020-21 campaign and all of the 2021 season but finally got back on the pitch on Sept. 11 for her first game since May 5, 2021. Trevithick made the most of her return, scoring less than two minutes after entering the game against CSUN. Two minutes after that, she scored her second goal in the Bruins' 5-1 victory. Trevithick has played in just 13 games and 482 minutes at UCLA but has scored four goals and two assists.

THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT
Senior midfielder Sunshine Fontes has been a big bright spot for UCLA, leading the team with six goals and 13 points. Fontes recorded her first collegiate hat trick on Aug. 25, netting three goals in 48 minutes of action against CSUN. All three goals were well-hit bombs from outside the box, including a bending free kick from approximately 25 yards out to complete the hat trick. It was the 28th hat trick in program history, with Fontes becoming 21st UCLA player to record one and first since Reilyn Turner on Sept. 5, 2021 at LMU. She struck again on Aug. 28, scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win at Santa Clara. Fontes, who is the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. U-17 National Team with 24 goals, won national player of the week honors from both Top Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News after her four-goal weekend.

THE WRIGHT STUFF
Sophomore Lexi Wright has been showing her stuff this season, ranking third on the team in scoring with eight points on three goals and three assists. She recorded her first collegiate goal on Aug. 25 against CSUN and also added an assist. She assisted on the game-winner at No. 2 Duke and scored the second-half equalizer to jump-start UCLA's comeback win at No. 1 North Carolina.

STALWART STARTERS
With a deep and talented squad at her disposal, head coach Margueritte Aozasa has been able to seamlessly shuffle her starting lineup from game to game. Two players, however, have earned starts in all nine games - graduate goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy and freshman midfielder Ally Lemos. Five players have eight starts - defenders Quincy McMahon, Jayden Perry, Lilly Reale and Madelyn Desiano and forward Reilyn Turner.

NEW FACES
The Bruins have undergone a transformation since last season, with new head coach Margueritte Aozasa (Santa Clara '12) taking the reigns as head coach of the Bruins on Dec. 29, 2021. Aozasa was an assistant coach at Stanford for seven years, helping guide the Cardinal to NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2019 and Pac-12 titles from 2015-19. Joining the coaching staff were assistant coaches Gof Boyoko, Molly Poletto and Chelsea Tudela.

UCLA also welcomed 12 new players to the squad in 2022, including 10 freshmen who make up the nation's top-ranked freshman class. Seven of those players were ranked in Top Drawer Soccer's Top 25 - Kathryn Kelly (No. 7), Neeku Purcell (No. 8), Ellie Walbruch (No. 16), Sofia Cook (No. 19), Peyton Marcisz (No. 20), America Frias (No. 22) and Ally Lemos (No. 24). Walbruch, Cook and Lemos all joined the team early during Winter quarter and had a chance to train and play with the Bruins in the Spring. Also new to the squad are transfers Ally Cook (Oregon) and Maya Evans (California). Cook was a three-year starting forward for the Ducks and earned second-team All-Pacific Region and third-team All-Pac-12 honors last season after leading the team with eight goals and 20 points. Evans comes to UCLA after two seasons in Berkeley. As a freshman in 2020, she started in 11 of 13 games and led the team with 975 minutes played, earning Pac-12 All-Freshman honors.

FOLLOW THE BRUINS
Follow UCLA Women's Soccer at @UCLAWSoccer on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and /UCLAWSoccer on Facebook. The Bruins lead all collegiate soccer teams, men or women, in Instagram followers with 94k.