Oct. 26, 1997

Women's Soccer Falls to UCLA

LOS ANGELES-The No. 15 USC women's soccer team suffered a bitter 3-1 defeat to rival No. 19 UCLA today at Spaulding Field in Westwood.

The Women of Troy (13-2-1) fell to 4-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference, a game behind the Bruins (13-2), who are 5-0. Because only the conference champion is assured of an NCAA Tournament berth, USC will need to win the next four games to put itself in a position to attain an at-large bid, or to win the Pac-10 should UCLA falter.

The game was scoreless at halftime, but USC missed on two good chances early in the first half. Junior forward Courtney Barham's header hit the crossbar, and a one-timer by freshman Megan Orach was saved by the UCLA goalkeeper.

UCLA opened the scoring at 50:49 when Venus James headed in a free kick.

The Women of Troy tied the game shortly thereafter. Sophomore midfielder Kim Clark's corner kick was punched away by the UCLA goalkeeper, but right to freshman defender Andrea Warner, who kicked it in at 57:26.

The Bruins came right back, as old nemesis Traci Arkenberg scored what turned out to be the game-winner at 67:06. Against USC in her career, the senior forward scored in all five games with a total of eight goals.

USC had one solid chance at about the 72nd minute, when Barham got open with the ball just to the left of the goal with the goalkeeper out of position. She couldn't get a good foot on it, however, and a Bruin defender got back to block her shot.

With the USC defense playing up to try and get the tying goal, UCLA's Lari Kiremidjian scored on a breakaway at 85:18 to seal the victory.

USC has its first Pac-10 home game this Friday (Oct. 31) against Arizona State at 3 p.m. at the Coliseum.