Young squads do not always ignite out of the gate.
And although the Bruins started their 2025 season 1-2, their flame is finally beginning to catch.
Continuing its six-game unbeaten streak, No. 4 UCLA women’s soccer (6-2-1, 2-0-1 Big Ten) defeated Michigan (3-6-1, 0-2-1) 1-0 on Sunday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and preceded the clean sheet victory with a 1-1 draw against Michigan State (4-2-4, 1-0-2) in East Lansing, Michigan, on Thursday. The Bruins have allowed just one goal in their streak and have garnered six shutouts on the year.
UCLA’s trip to the Mitten State started rocky.
The Spartans broke the deadlock in the 20th minute when defender Kennedy Bell broke free of the Bruin defenders and rifled a shot into the top right corner past freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor. The score was the Bruin defense’s first concession since Aug. 23 against BYU.
And despite the discrepancy in ranking between the Bruins and unranked Spartans, UCLA notched 13 shots to Michigan State’s 12. However, the Bruins were able to level the game not long after intermission.
Junior forward Oruha Hayashi fired a shot from the edge of the box that goalkeeper Noelle Henning could not hold on to, spilling the ball in front of sophomore forward Kara Croone, who leveled the game from point-blank range.
The Bruins had an opportunity to take the lead in the 90th minute, but redshirt senior forward Lexi Wright’s close-range effort was parried away from goal by Henning, leading to their first tie of the season.
“Michigan State was a learning curve,” Croone said. “Coming into Michigan, everyone knew that we needed to step it up from Michigan State and that Michigan State was not our overall best performance.”
Forward Leena Powell dribbles the ball. The freshman has recorded an assist and 11 shots this season. (Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon/Daily Bruin senior staff)
UCLA showed it learned from its Michigan State experience early against the Spartans’ counterpart.
Nakfoor, just over two minutes into the contest, opened the scoring by launching a goal kick to Wright near midfield, who flicked the ball to Croone.
Croone then slipped a through ball behind the Wolverine defense to junior midfielder Val Vargas, who slotted the ball low and hard into the bottom left corner as the keeper rushed out, giving the Bruins a lead they would never give back.
Despite an emphatic opening, UCLA registered just one additional shot for the remainder of the first half.
Michigan failed to capitalize and managed just two shots of their own through the first period, but the one-goal advantage left little room for error for the Bruins.
“In the first half, we were not really playing together and on the same page, and there was not a lot of personality throughout all of us,” said senior forward America Frias.
Although UCLA was held scoreless after its almost immediate opening goal, the squad found its footing in the second half, leading the shot advantage eight to Michigan’s one. The one-sided half kept the pressure on the Wolverines and helped the Bruins earn the clean sheet, as Nakfoor and sophomore goalkeeper Mariangela Medina split time in the net.
Freshman defender Meila Brewer, appearing in her sixth game of the season, went down with an injury in the 65th minute after leaping for a header off a corner kick, allowing for the squad to dip into its depth.
UCLA has tallied 10 scorers and assisters on the season, a test of the team’s depth, which coach Margueritte Aozasa said makes the Bruins hard to scout.
“It also gives us a lot of variability in our attack, and that’s something we talked about today, like when we go on these road trips,” Aozasa said. “We have to use our depth, and I think our depth really showed today,”