JEFFREY ANTENORE Senior forward Stephanie
Rigamat fights against Washington State defender.
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
It would be a simple weekend, a simple plan, if the teams the
Bruins had to beat weren’t the teams they have to beat.
Outright ownership of the Pac-10 title is on the line when the
No. 3 Bruins (15-2-0, 6-1-0 Pac-10) go to the Bay Area for tough
matches against No. 17 California and fourth-ranked co-conference
leader Stanford.
“This weekend is for the Pac-10 title and it is going to
be very interesting,” UCLA head coach Jillian Ellis said.
“We know that if we take care of business we will achieve one
of our goals and that is to win the Pac-10 Championship. I’m
not worried. This team gets up for big games. They thrive on the
pressure.”
The Bruins expected to face the prospect of a Cardinal squad
undefeated in the Pac-10. But Stanford’s upset loss to
Arizona State last Friday saddled it with its first conference
defeat and pulled both USC and UCLA into a three-way tie for
first.
USC fell out of contention when it lost on Sunday to Washington,
a team that had suffered its second Pac-10 loss two days prior
against UCLA.
Everything went right for UCLA last weekend, which left the
Bruins in control of their own destiny. Wins over Cal (11-5-2,
3-3-1) and Stanford (13-2-1, 6-1-0) would give UCLA sole possession
of the Pac-10 title.
 Last season’s NCAA finalist team finished third in
the conference, and the 1998 squad finished tied for first, but not
since 1997 has UCLA finished alone atop the Pac-10. The only member
of both the 1997 and 2001 teams is goalkeeper CiCi Peterson, who
redshirted the 1997 season.
The Bruins find themselves in fairly uncharted territory ““
somewhere they’re happy to be traversing.
“If we had lost last weekend, it would be “˜If some
team loses and we win, then we win the Pac-10,'” senior
forward Staci Duncan said. “Now, it’s completely up to
us.”
Any other season-ending weekend in the Pac-10 would lend itself
to a probable UCLA sweep. But the Bruins have swept Cal and
Stanford only once in the last three years and will battle a
Stanford team that is facing the same scenario as UCLA, not to
mention the incentive of finishing ranked in the top four
nationally.
The four top seeds host all of their home matches up to the
Final Four.
“I think we’re in the same boat,” Stanford
head coach Andy Nelson said. “It’s always a huge
advantage to play at home during the tournament.”
Cal will also be jockeying for NCAA playoff seeding, and a win
against the highly-touted Bruins would provide a strong book-end
upset for the giant-killer Bears. Cal defeated No. 2 Santa Clara
2-1 in the fifth game of the season.
The Bruins were tabbed as preseason favorites to win the Pac-10,
and don’t deny they’re feeling the heat.
“We know there’s a lot of pressure, but we put the
pressure on ourselves,” Duncan said.