Utah Soccer Takes 6-1 Loss At No. 4 UCLA

Friday, September 18

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

University of Utah

UCLA

9/18/2009 12:00 AM | Soccer

Sept. 18, 2009

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - The University of Utah soccer team (5-4) fell to No. 4-ranked UCLA (5-1-1) Friday in Los Angeles by a 6-1 score. Utah's goal was scored by sophomore midfielder Lauren Hair, her second of the year.

"I was really proud of our team's effort tonight," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "That might seem strange to lose by that score and come away with some confidence but I feel like we performed pretty well. We defended hard, limited their chances, got a good goal from Lauren and got some other chances on the counter-attack. The big difference in the game to me was that UCLA finished on its set pieces. Credit to them, they are a fantastic team with great attacking weapons. But I also feel like those are things we can definitely sure up."

After going down 2-0 in the first half on UCLA goals by US Women's National Team member Lauren Cheney (17th minute) and Kara Lang (23rd minute), junior forward Lauren Hair got the Utes on the scoreboard in the 35th minute of play. Senior midfielder Kelly Isleib found Hair in the box, and she shot it past Bruin goalkeeper Chante Sandiford on the left side. The goal was Hair's second of the season, while Isleib collected her team-leading fifth assist.

Facing a 2-1 deficit in the second half, Utah had several good opportunities to tie the contest but barely missed, including a Mallory Mitamura long shot that flew just high and a drilled volley by Chelsea Forbes that rang the crossbar.

Unfortunately for the Utes it was UCLA who was able to take advantage of a scoring chance, taking a 3-1 lead at the 61:09 mark. Lauren Barnes was left unmarked at the far post on a corner kick and was able to strike a header into the back of the net to make it a 3-1 Bruin advantage.

UCLA caught the Utes on another corner kick just a few minutes later as Cheney netted her second of the night, this time heading it in for the 4-1 Bruin lead. It became 5-1 when Sydney Leroux found the back of the net at 77:35.

UCLA then made it 6-1 in the 87th minute as Ahsha Smith scored for the Bruins. Their six goals marked the most allowed by Utah since a 6-1 loss to BYU in 2000.

The Utes were outshot 15-7 overall with shots on goal going 8-4 against them. Corner kicks were 5-2 to the Bruins. UCLA committed 18 fouls to Utah's eight.

Utah is now 1-2 on the year against Top 25-ranked opposition.

Utah is back in action Sunday for a neutral-site matchup against Loyola Marymount on UCLA's pitch. LMU is coming off of a 1-0 win against Missouri Friday.