LOS ANGELES – The University of Utah women’s soccer team fell to the UCLA Bruins by a score of 4-0 on Friday night in Pac-12 Conference action at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles.
Utah’s record is now 5-5-5 with a 1-3-2 mark in conference, while UCLA is 12-1 and 6-0 in league fixtures.
“Tonight was a really tough result against an extremely talented UCLA squad,” said head coach Hideki Nakada. “We couldn’t quite overcome some challenges we were dealing with coming into this match and UCLA was just that much better than us on the day.”
This defeat came despite an excellent effort from Utah goalkeeper Kasey Wardle, who ended the night with 14 stops, a total only surpassed by two other performances in program history. Wardle’s total is the highest by a Ute since Courtney Hills-McBeth racked up 16 saves in a 1999 match against Michigan and her 14 denials are also the most by Pac-12 keeper so far in 2023.
The Utes fended off a few early chances, but a Utah foul gave UCLA a free kick just outside the box and Ally Lemos converted it into a score in the 12th minute. Wardle turned away the next two Bruin tries, but a goal by Reilyn Turner in the in the 19th minute made the score 2-0.
Lilliah Blum had Utah’s best chance to cut the deficit in half with a shot in the 25th minute, but a save by Neeku Purcell denied that opportunity. Wardle made four stops over the final 20 minutes of the first half and the Utah back line also fended off three UCLA corner kicks to keep the visitors within striking distance as the match went to halftime.
Wardle continued denying Bruin efforts in the second half, starting with a diving save in the 50th minute that stopped a Lexi Wright shot. The Utes again tried to cut into the UCLA lead moments later, only for a shot off the foot of Ryann Cull to be saved in the 60th minute.
Soon after Cull’s effort was blocked, Wright found the back of the net to make the score 3-0 in the 62nd minute and Megan Edelman closed out the scoring with a goal in the 89th minute.
“Our players have done an amazing job this season filling in and playing out of natural positions,” said Nakada, “but it proved too much tonight. We will move on from this quickly and get ready for next Thursday.”
Up Next
The Utes have another road fixture on the docket on Thursday, when they’ll face the Washington Huskies.
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