Tennessee defeated UCLA 1-0 in a women’s soccer match at Los Angeles, capitalizing on their only shot of the game. The decisive goal came in the 25th minute from forward Shae O’Rourke, who was set up by teammates Ally Brown and Sydney Miller. This marks Tennessee’s second win over a Top 5 opponent in one week.
UCLA, ranked fourth nationally, fell to a record of 1-1 despite outshooting Tennessee 17-1. Thirteen of those shots came during the second half, but the Bruins were unable to convert any into goals. Several close attempts included Oruha Hayashi’s shot in the 52nd minute that required a diving save from Tennessee goalkeeper Cayden Norris and Meila Brewer’s header off the following corner kick that went wide. Bella Winn also had an opportunity after intercepting a pass but missed just wide following an exchange with Emma Egizii.
In another attempt during the 72nd minute, Lily Boyden drew a foul outside the box leading to Val Vargas taking a free kick, which was off target. Earlier in the first half, shots by Vargas and Kara Croone were saved by Norris.
O’Rourke’s goal for Tennessee followed a long pass from Brown to Miller, who found O’Rourke at the top of UCLA’s penalty area. O’Rourke beat Bruin goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor with a shot to the far post for her fourth goal this season.
UCLA head coach Margueritte Aozasa commented on her team’s performance: “We’re a young group, and we have to learn these things,” she said. “We made a critical error. It was a goal that we talked about preventing all week, and we didn’t do it. In that way, this is a huge learning moment for us. That’s the frustrating part. But the very positive part is that, on paper, that’s the number six team in the country, and they just beat the number one team in the country, and we outshot them 17 shots to one and in the second half [13] to zero. So there were a lot of positives there.”
The Bruins will look ahead as they travel to play No. 19 BYU on Saturday evening; coverage will be available on ESPN+.
