Soccer falls to third-ranked UCLA
<p>The Arizona State women's soccer team put forth a determined effort, however was unable to overcome the third-ranked UCLA Bruins on Friday night. The Bruins scored one goal in the first half and two in the second on their way to a 3-0 win in front of 1,052 fans at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium. The Bruins remained unbeaten, improving to 12-0-2 (3-0-0 Pac-10) while the Sun Devils fell to 6-4-3 (0-2-0 Pac-10).</p><separator></separator><p>"We are walking away from this game knowing we played as well as we could and we cannot ask for more than that," said ASU head coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/boyd_kevin00.html">Kev… Boyd</a>.</p><separator></separator><p>The Sun Devils hung tough with the Bruins for much of the game even after falling behind 1-0 following a goal by Bruin defender Dea Cook, who scored on a header off a corner kick from teammate Lauren Wilmoth in the game's 26th minute.</p><separator></separator><p>Following Cook's goal, the Sun Devils tightened their defense and didn't allow the Bruins to score over the next 50 minutes of play while nearly tying the game on a couple occasions. The Sun Devils continued with their aggressive approach until the Bruins put the game out of reach in the 76th minute when Bruin forward Sydney Leroux scored to put UCLA up 2-0.</p><separator></separator><p>"I thought we played very well during the first 20 minutes of the second half," said Boyd. "We had chances in front of their goal and we were creating things and attacking them. We weren't able to get a goal in that period of time and the longer it went without us getting a goal the more we started to deflate."</p><separator></separator><p>With a short-handed roster that has already been severely depleted by injuries this season, Boyd pulled some of his regulars following Leroux's goal with Sunday's game against another Top-10 opponent in mind.</p><separator></separator><p>UCLA junior Kara Lang closed out the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 86th minute.</p><separator></separator><p>Sophomore <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/elston_alexandra00.htm… Elston</a> led the Sun Devils in shots with two. Also registering shots for ASU were junior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/kallas_carly00.html">C… Kallas</a>, sophomore <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/volpe_karin00.html">Ka… Volpe</a> and freshman <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/cook_sierra00.html">Si… Cook</a>. ASU junior goalkeeper <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/silvestri_briana00.htm… Silvestri</a> made six saves for the Sun Devils.</p><separator></separator><p>The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday when they host the defending national champion USC Trojans at 1 p.m.</p>