The women’s soccer team continued its season-long struggles on Saturday, falling 2-1 to Oregon State (6-5-3, 2-4 Pac-12) in Corvallis, Ore., and bringing its record to 6-7-1, 2-3-1.
Although the match was tightly contested for 90 minutes, the Bruins could not recover from early mistakes, a situation reminiscent of their losses to the Washington Huskies and the Washington State Cougars earlier this month.
Just 18 minutes into the match, Oregon State sophomore forward Nikki Faris beat a defender just outside the box and sent a shot flying past redshirt freshman goalkeeper Siri Ervik. Although the UCLA outshot its opponent nine to eight, it was unable to recover from the early deficit.
The Bruins seemed to have momentum in the last 10 minutes of the match, but in the 84th minute, the Beavers’ Emma Jones finally produced the insurance goal her team needed. A menace all afternoon to the Bruins, totaling four shots on goal, the sophomore forward from England found the goal with a shot from the left side.
Oregon State defender Emmy Rodriguez noted UCLA’s possession-heavy play style towards the end, per an Oregon State press release.
“We were really patient defending,” Rodriguez said. “They swung it around in the back but once they crossed the half-field line we marked really tight.”
Immediately following Jones’ goal, UCLA’s junior midfielder Lauren Kaskie tried to notch one of her own but her shot was saved by Oregon State goalkeeper Bella Geist. Just 25 seconds after, sophomore forward MacKenzie Cerda’s shot was also saved by Geist.
Junior forward Darian Jenkins was finally able to put one on the board for the Bruins in the 89th minute, with the assist coming from senior forward Kodi Lavrusky.
But it was too little too late and the Bruins continued with an inconsistent season, plagued by the loss of many graduated seniors.
UCLA will look to level its record to .500 against Colorado this Friday at Drake Stadium.
