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Corona's Amber Munerlyn scored the lone goal Saturday night to lead the U.S. past Canada in the championship game in CONCACAF's U-17 women's championship in Guatemala City.

Munerlyn (Santiago HS/So Cal Blues) scored on a 21st-minute breakaway for the Americans, who outscored five foes, 26-0, dominating every foe except the Canadians.

The U.S. and Canada advanced to the Sept. 22-Oct. 3 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan with semifinal victories Thursday.

Munerlyn made just two appearances in the Americans' five games, and she wasn't included in the 18-player game roster for the first two games, routs of the Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago.

Newport Beach's Maddie Bauer (Mater Dei HS/Slammers FC) played every minute of the tournament for the U.S. on the backline.

The U.S. outshot its opponents, 131-25, with big advantages in shots on goal (69-8) and corner kicks (33-12). Canada outshot the U.S., 13-10, and took seven corners to the Americans' three.

Summer Green, a high school junior from Milford, Mich., who set up Munerlyn's goal, broke the CONCACAF scoring record with 12 goals (plus four assists) in five games. She had three hat tricks, with five goals against the Bahamas.

LOCALS WITH U-23S: The U.S. under-23 women's national team opens a weeklong camp Sunday at Home Depot Center, and University of Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum has included seven local players on his roster:

• D Lauren Barnes (Upland), Upland HS/UCLA, Beach FC
• G Colleen Boyd (La Cañada Flintridge), La Cañada HS/Oregon State, Western New York Flash
• D Abby Dahlkemper (Menlo Park), UCLA
• D Camille Levin (Newport Coast), Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School/Stanford, Pali Blues
• F Nadia Link (Rowland Heights), Walnut HS/Long Beach State, Santa Clarita Blue Heat
• D Taylor Lytle (Las Cruces, N.M.), Texas Tech, Pali Blues
• M Mariah Nogueira (Westminster), Marina HS/Stanford

Counting down the 11 biggest 2011 stories in Southern California soccer ...

UCLA's soccer programs might be forgiven for thinking of NCAA College Cup appearances as some sort of birthright. The Bruins' programs have long been among the nation's best, with the men winning four national championships and the women making it to final four eight times in 10 years through 2009.

But the men hadn't been to championship weekend since 2006, when they were upset in the title game by UC Santa Barbara despite talent that begged for trophies. They were stopped one game short the past two seasons.

2011 was a return to normalcy, perhaps. With a startling amount of ability returning from last year's quarterfinalists and a refined scheme, emphasizing a beautiful possession game, directed by head coach Jorge Salcedo, the Bruins absorbed early lessons, built momentum en route to the Pacific 12 Conference title, then sprinted through the postseason, shutting out every foe, en route to the program's 13th College Cup appearance.

Chandler Hoffman, with a terrific support group led by returning All-American Kelyn Rowe, midfield general Andy Rose and a defense anchored by top goalkeeper Brian Rowe, was responsible for the goals, 18 in all, as the Bruins took an eight-game shutout streak to Birmingham, Ala., the junior striker's hometown.

The Bruins (18-4-2) got no further -- they conceded equalizers twice and lost on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the semifinals with North Carolina, which won the championship -- but laid groundwork for return trips. They expect to be back in 2012.

UCLA's men highlighted a outstanding fall for local college sides.

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UCLA's Chandler Hoffman scored goals by the bunches on a quest to go home. Nadia Link netted nearly as many to take Long Beach State to unprecedented heights. Christian Ramirez dazzled for Concordia. And Fabiola da Silva prodded Cal Baptist to a national championship.

They're ESPN Los Angeles College Players of the Year after superb fall campaigns on local fields.

We selected men's and women's teams, one for players from 10 local NCAA Division I institutions and another for players from 24 NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and unaffiliated schools.

Our coaches of the year in Division I are Junior Gonzalez, who led the remarkable turnaround by UC Riverside's men, and Tim Ward, whose Pepperdine women were a top-five team during the regular season. In the lower divisions, it's Ralph Perez, who took Redlands' men to 20 wins and NCAA Division III third-round berth, and Kristen St. Clair, who presided over a superb transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, with the Pacific West Conference title and National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national crown.

The freshmen of the year: Cal State Northridge's Edwin Rivas and UCLA's Abby Dahlkemper in D1, Cal Baptist's Michael Salazar and Cal Lutheran's Taylor Will in D2/D3/NAIA.

Here are our inaugural postseason all-star teams:

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UCLA striker Chandler Hoffman has signed as expected with Major League Soccer's Generation adidas program.

Hoffman had a phenomental junior season, winning All-America honors after scoring 18 goals to lead UCLA to its first NCAA College Cup men's soccer final four in five years.

It had been assumed the forward from Birmingham, Ala., would sign with MLS, and he said following the Bruins' loss on penalty kicks to North Carolina in the NCAA semifinals that he planned to discuss his options “with my family the next few days, talk to the [UCLA] coaching staff and see what the opportunities are in MLS.”

UCLA sophomore Kelyn Rowe also is expected to sign a Generation adidas pact, which is offered to the best players retaining college eligibility. Players in the program do not count against MLS clubs' salary caps nor roster sizes and tend to dominate the initial selections in the first round of the SuperDraft.

“I’m thrilled to be included in the Generation adidas list,” Hoffman told the league's website. “When you just look at the players that have come through this program, it’s basically every big-name American player. To have that opportunity to come into MLS and be a professional athlete, which has been my goal, is a major accomplishment and something I’m very proud of.

“I also see it as a new beginning and a time to prove myself once again, because coming to UCLA from Alabama, a lot of people didn’t believe I could do it, and I’m sure that at the next level there are going to be people who think I can’t do it. So it’s just added motivation to me to prove myself, because I definitely do think I’m good enough to be a goalscorer at the highest level.”

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Counting down the top 11 personalities of 2011 in Southern California soccer ...

Nadia Link's story is compelling enough.

The forward from Rowland Heights discovered she was pregnant right out of high school, was booted from the family home, abandoned a UC Irvine scholarship and took up residence for a time in her car.

It has provided a fascinating foundation for one of Southern California's breakout stars of the college season, and Link (Walnut HS) broke out big.

The junior attacker scored 16 goals, assisted 10 more and did so with stunning aplomb to lead surprising Long Beach State, which had never won an NCAA tournament match, to the Division I quarterfinals.

Link's superb skill provided highlight-reel goals, the biggest (and maybe the best) a corkscrewing blast off her lesser right foot that curled inside the far post to beat No. 7 Pepperdine in overtime in an NCAA opener.

“All I heard was Mauricio [Ingrassia, the 49ers' head coach] saying, 'Take it down the line!' And I remember thinking, 'That's a long way.' ... It went in, and I don't even remember celebrating. I was too busy crying.”

Link's biggest fan is Adrianna, who turns 3 next month. Her arrival after so much turmoil served to unify the family, which rallied around the former prep and club soccer star as she worked feverishly to regain fitness and touch following her pregnancy.

Ingrassia proved savior, offering a scholarship -- contingent on Link's passing a grueling fitness test before her second season on the team. She did so to rabid cheers from her teammates (“It was a great moment for us and a great moment for her,” Ingrassia said), had a fine sophomore campaign, then arrived last summer in the best shape of her life.

It showed all fall, led to a call-up to the U.S. women's national team and was rewarded with the 49ers' elite-eight run and a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's All-America team.

“I would do it all over again,” Link says. “I would live in a car again. I would bounce around ... to see her now and where I am now and how close my family is, I wouldn't trade anything for the world.”

Long Beach State's unprecedented run through the NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament came to its conclusion against a faster, stronger, better team. That didn't make it any easier to accept.

The 49ers bowed in a quarterfinal Friday night to Duke, which claimed a College Cup berth with a 2-0 victory in Durham, N.C., capping its dominance with two fine second-half goals to reach the final four the first time since 1992.

Long Beach (18-6-1) stayed level until the 67th minute, but its failure to create much of an attack -- with just three shots (to Duke's 15) and none on frame -- meant it was going to take something very special to add to NCAA victories over Pepperdine, Miami and San Diego with an upset of the third-ranked Blue Devils (21-3-1).

“They were very athletic, more so than my kids,” 49ers coach Mauricio Ingrassia told ESPN Los Angeles afterward. “Normally, we get to the ball quicker or we hang in the air higher. They just had some beastly athletes -- and good soccer players. End of the day, we did very well to give ourselves a shot.”

Duke will meet Wake Forest (18-3-4), a 3-0 winner over Central Florida, in a semifinal next Friday in Kennesaw, Ga. A third Atlantic Coast Conference team, Florida State (18-6-1), routed ACC rival Virginia, 3-0, and will face top-ranked Stanford (23-0-1), which beat Oklahoma State, 2-1, in overtime.

Duke was explosive on the flanks, especially through Mollie Pathman on the left, and moved the ball impressively, but Long Beach stayed in the game by surviving Kelly Cobb's blast off the crossbar in the 22nd minute and through strong play by center backs Jordan Nelson (Garden Grove/Pacifica HS and Loyola Marymount) and Alex Balcer and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS).

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MALIBU -- Nadia Link has netted some wonderful goals this season, but few as sweet -- and none as important -- as her bending blast Saturday afternoon at Pepperdine.

Link fired into the far corner of the net with 13 seconds to go in the first overtime period to lift Long Beach State to a 1-0 triumph over the seventh-ranked Waves in an NCAA Division I tournament opener.

It was the first NCAA victory in 49ers history, and the first over a top-10 opponent, and it was product on Link's twisting shot and five big saves by goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves.

“That's seven years of work -- seven and a half years ...,” said Long Beach State coach Mauricio Ingrassia, who has the 49ers in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years. “We had a couple of injuries [when we lost in the first round to San Diego] in '08. And last year we played our best game of the year against Santa Clara, but [their goalkeeper] had the game of her life. This year we felt we had the experience. It would have been very painful to be 0-3 in the tournament without scoring a goal.”

The goal was a beauty. Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) received a pass from midfielder Sidney Garza (Ventura /Buena HS), took the ball up the left flank, then cut inside along the top of the Waves box, where she found uncommon space.

She's a left-footer, but the shot was on her right, and it twisted away -- “corkscrewed,” is how Pepperdine coach Tim Ward put it -- toward the upper-right. Waves goalkeeper Roxanne Barker (Irvine/Woodbridge HS) never had a chance.

“The team was asking why did I wait so long,” said Link, who tied the school record with her 16th goal of the season. “I saw the pass coming from Sidney Garza, and all I heard was Mauricio saying, 'Take it down the line!' And I remember thinking, 'That's a long way.' ... It went in, and I don't even remember celebrating. I was too busy crying.”

Said Ward: “A moment was going to decide the game, and that moment [belonged to] Nadia Link. ... A great player scored a great goal to beat us.”

Link described the odd path of her shot as “the unpredictability of my right foot.”

The strike brought a dramatic end to a tight, thrilling clash marked by superb defense in the boxes, with Long Beach State's backline -- especially center back Jordan Nelson (Garden Grove/Pacifica HS and Loyola Marymount) -- doing well to get in the way of shots by Lynn Williams and Laura Cole (Whittier/La Habra HS).

Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS) came up big five times, including a double-save, the second with her foot, on Amanda LeCave after an uncharacteristic giveaway by defender Alex Balcer. The goalkeeper followed up by snagging a long shot by right back Michelle Pao, Pepperdine's most dangerous attacker, then made two diving saves on Williams in the second half.

Long Beach advances to a second-round clash Friday against Miami (10-7-1), a 3-2 winner over Alabama, at UCLA's Drake Stadium.

In other women's action:

• Freshman Kylie McCarthy knocked home a 65th-minute rebound as No. 2 UCLA (16-1-3) scored a 1-0 victory over visiting New Mexico (12-5-4) in an NCAA Division I first-round game. The Bruins limited the Mountain West Conference champion to three shots, just two on target, in a dominant performance en route to a second-round clash Friday in Westwood against San Diego.

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College all-conference teams are starting to show up, and several local players (and one coach) are winning awards.

All four players of the year in the Big West Conference are with local schools. Long Beach State's Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) is the Offensive Player of the Year and Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS) is Midfielder of the Year.

All-American CoCo Goodson of UC Irvine is the Defensive Player of the Year, and Cal State Northridge's Cynthia Jacobo (Arleta/Granada Hills HS) is Goalkeeper of the Year.

West Coast Conference co-champion Pepperdine was honored with the conference's Coach of the Year, for Tim Ward, and Freshman of the Year, for Lynn Williams.

The Most Valuable Offensive Player in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, for NCAA Division II programs, is Cal State Dominguez Hills' Jessica Murphy (Torrance/West Torrance HS). Cal Poly Pomona's Christina Carriaga (Walnut/Walnut HS and Mt. San Antonio College) is the Newcomer of the Year.

In the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, for NCAA Division III schools, Cal Lutheran swept the top awards, with Sinead Vaughn (Simi Valley/Royal HS, Moorpark College and Cal State Northridge) voted Athlete of the Year and Taylor Will selected Newcomer of the Year.

Here are full lists from the Big West, WCC, CCAA and SCIAC:

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IRVINE -- Long Beach State is returning to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years after knocking off No. 24 UC Irvine in Sunday afternoon's Big West Conference women's tournament final.

Jazz Strozier scored in the 13th minute and the 49ers (15-5-1) backed it up with an organized defense led by goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves and center back Alex Balcer, the tournament MVP.

It was the second straight year Long Beach State has won the title at Anteater Field after UCI captured the regular-season title.

“I thought it was a great day for Long Beach State,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We came in with a game plan. We executed. ... [UC Irvine is] a very good team.

“We had to earn every inch that we got, but I think hats off to my team this year, because last year I told their coach I thought they were was the best team, when we shook hands, and I feel like this year we had the best team in the Big West.”

Strozier (Ventura/Buena HS and Ventura College) knocked home a corner kick from Loyola Marymount transfer Kelsey Wilson (San Clemente/San Clemente HS) that was first headed by Balcer and Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS). It ended a 435-minute shutout streak for the Anteaters, who had shut out their previous four and six of the previous seven foes.

Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) nearly added to the lead seven minutes into the second half with a floater that Anteaters goalkeeper Jennifer Randazzo tipped onto the crossbar and away.

UCI (14-4-2), which is expected to receive an at-large berth when the 64-team field is unveiled Monday, nearly pulled even on a 60th-minute free kick by All-American CoCo Goodson, a blistering shot that slipped past the 49ers wall and required a diving save by Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS).

Long Beach shifted from its customary 4-3-3 alignment to a 4-4-2 in the second half, with defender-turned-forward Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS) moving into midfield, then dropping deeper, right in front of the back four, in the closing minutes.

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UC Irvine has been here before, with a home game against their mightiest rival with an NCAA tournament berth, or at least an automatic berth, there for the taking.

Long Beach State knocked off the Anteaters last year, merely a hiccup en route to UCI's program-best round-of-16 appearance, and the 49ers are the opposition again Sunday in the Big West Conference tournament championship game.

The 24th-ranked Anteaters (14-3-2) will be home for the noon clash. Win or lose, they figure to make the NCAA field, and Long Beach (14-5-1) might be through regardless, too.

“You never know,” Anteaters coach Scott Juniper said on the eve of the match. “I think it looks likely [that we'll make it], and Long Beach has had a great season and put themselves in a great spot. The conference deserves two.”

The Big West usually has been underrated, especially by the NCAA, which relies far too heavily on RPI, a mechanism that doesn't really work when the sampling of interregional matches is so small. The regionalization of the NCAA bracket leads to too many first- and second-round matchups with the UCLAs, Stanfords and Santa Claras, giving the conference little opportunity to demonstrate its quality.

This year could be different. Long Beach State has a vibrant attack guided by wing-forward Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) and central midfielder Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS). UC Irvine has a lock-down defense led by All-American CoCo Goodson and an offense sparked by UCLA transfer Natalia Ledezma (La Mirada/La Mirada HS), a U.S. youth national teams veteran.

“I knew this team could be as good as the team from last year, if not better,” said Juniper, whose Anteaters went 19-2-2 in 2010. “What's different and better is we got more experience and we have more confidence through the fact that we have more experience in the later stages [of the season].”

UCI has won seven in a row, six of them by shutout -- surrendering just 2½ shots on goal on average -- after a stretch of six games in which it conceded two or three goals five times. Juniper said the answer was to “go back to basics,” and Goodson, fellow center back Sarah Devine and top-class holding midfielder Judy Christopher (Ontario/Upland HS) responded with strong performances.

Ledezma has scored 12 goals with eight assists and is seeing her partnership with Lexi Kopf, who has 11 goals, reaching fruition as the NCAA tournament nears. Nice timing.

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UC Irvine and Long Beach State will face off in the Big West Conference women's soccer title game for the second straight year, with an NCAA tournament berth up for grabs.

Both won semifinals Thursday and will meet Sunday at noon at regular-season champion UCI's Anteater Field. Both are in line to join the NCAA field regardless, but Long Beach, which won last year's title game but lost to Irvine in this year's regular-season meeting, will want to win to make sure.

Amanda Hardeman (Laguna Niguel/Dana Hills HS and Santiago Canyon College) scored from CoCo Goodson's feed in the 64th minute to lift the No. 24 Anteaters (14-3-2) to a 1-0 victory over visiting UC Davis (11-7-1).

Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) netted her 15th goal of the season from a pass by Nicole Sweetman (Oxnard/Oaks Christian HS and UCLA), who added a second as Long Beach State (14-5-1) tallied twice in the second half for a 2-0 triumph over visiting Cal State Northridge (7-10-2).

In other women's action:

• Freshman Taylor Will scored her 18th and 19th goals of the season to lead top-seeded Cal Lutheran (20-1-0), No. 10 in the NCAA Division III rankings, to a 3-1 triumph over Redlands (10-6-1) and into Saturday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Thousand Oaks.
• Kerry Moller provided a first-half lead and Bay Area products Lizzie Van Buskirk and Madi Shove tallied 90 seconds apart early in the second half as Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (8-8-3) romped to a 3-0 victory over cross-campus rival Pomona-Pitzer (10-6-1) to advance to the SCIAC tournament final.

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Lexi Kopf scored a hat trick as UC Irvine claimed its second successive Big West Conference women's soccer title in emphatic fashion Sunday, routing visiting UC Riverside, 5-0.

Kopf scored in the 46th, 54th and 90th minutes to lead the 24th-ranked Anteaters (13-3-2), who went 6-1-1 in Big West play to edge Long Beach State by a point. UC Irvine will be home Wednesday against UC Davis in a conference tournament semifinal.

UCLA transfer Natalia Ledezma added a goal and two assists for UCI, which scored three goals in the first 8½ minutes of the second half to turn a tight match into a rout.

Kopf's trio gives her 11 goals this season; Ledezma leads the Anteaters with 12.

UC Riverside closes its season at 8-9-2.

In other women's action:

• Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute, then sent in a cross for Jazz Strozier (Ventura/Buena HS and Ventura College) to finish just 39 seconds later as Long Beach State pulled out a 4-2 victory over visiting Pacific. Link scored twice, her 13th and 14th goals of the season, as the 49ers (13-5-1) finished second in the Big West; they will meet Cal State Northridge in a conference tournament opener Wednesday.
• Sydney Leroux's 14th goal of the season arrived nearly eight minutes into overtime, lifting No. 6 UCLA (14-1-2) to a 1-0 Pacific 12 Conference victory at Utah.
• Ashley Freyer tallied in the 59th minute as USC (7-12-0) toppled host Colorado in a Pac-12 game, the Women of Troy's fourth win in their last five games.
• Lynn Williams and Laura Cole (Whittier/La Habra HS) scored 4½ minutes apart late in the first half as No. 3 Pepperdine (14-1-4) bounced back from Friday's loss to Santa Clara with a 2-1 victory over Portland.

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LONG BEACH -- If the grind ever seems too tough, the swirl of responsibilities too dizzying, Nadia Link needs only a peek at the inside of her right arm to find the strength to keep pushing.

It's tattooed in stately script, just below her biceps: “Adrianna”

Long Beach State's star forward has overcome some terrific obstacles since learning three years ago, shortly after graduating from Walnut High School (Walnut), that she was pregnant. It sent her down a difficult and at times shrouded path while costing her a UC Irvine scholarship, destroying her relationship with her family, and forcing her to live, for a short stretch, in her car.

That path has led to unexpected reward, on and off the soccer field. Link, following two years of hard work to regain her fitness and form, has emerged as one of the deadliest attackers in the college game, with 12 goals and eight assists to lead the 49ers to a 10-3-1 record and a No. 22 ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Division I poll.

It led to last week's call-up to the U.S. under-23 national team's camp at Home Depot Center -- Link was most impressive, reports say -- and All-American buzz for the 5-foot-6 junior.

She has grown up, is getting good grades (while juggling 17 units) and has a plan for the future (nursing and law) and has watched as her family has come together, healed deep wounds and built a connection that had never before existed.

All of it is about Adrianna, her daughter, who will be 3 in January.

“It was very difficult,” Link, 21, says. “I had to do a lot on my own and be really strong, but my outlook is I'm like a freight train now. Any time I ever feel like maybe I should quit, I just look at her, and I find there's no way I can.”

NINE HARD MONTHS

Link, a Rowland Heights native, learned she was pregnant right after her June 2008 graduation from Walnut. She told her mother after accompanying her on a stroll.

“I was figuring something was wrong,” Nelia Mendoza says. “We went home, and it was just her and me, and she says, 'Ma, I want to tell you something.' She was already in tears. I had a feeling, a mother's instinct.

“ 'What, are you pregnant?' That just came out, like that. And she cried. And I screamed, and I cried so hard.”

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Third-ranked UCLA got its chance to see how close it is to No. 1. The verdict: not very.

Stanford scored four first-half goals to rout the Bruins, 4-1, Sunday in its packed Cagan Stadium, extending its home winning streak in women's soccer to 43 games and taking command of the Pacific 12 Conference race.

Chioma Ubogagu scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season to deliver a two-goal lead by the 18th minute. After Zakiya Bywaters halved the deficit seconds later for UCLA (10-1-2), Lindsay Taylor scored her ninth of the year in the 28th and Kristy Zurmuhlen provided a three-goal edge in the 40th.

UCLA's four-game shutout streak ended, but the Bruins stopped Stanford's seven-game stretch.

“I think we're in a good place,” said Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe, whose team has reached the past two NCAA Division I finals. “The team's doing well, but we've got to keep getting better. We've got to keep improving. We've got to learn from this game and keep growing.”

The Cardinal (13-0-1), which is 5-0-0 in the Pac-12, is looking for a third successive perfect conference campaign. Every other Pac-12 school has lost at least one. UCLA is 3-1-1.

In other women's action:

• USC (3-10-0) lost its eighth in a row as Rachel Mercik and Taylor Comeau scored second-half goals in Cal's 2-0 victory. The Women of Troy are 0-4-0 in Pac-12 play.
• Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS) scored with 12 seconds to go in regulation and Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) netted her 12th goal of the season in the fifth minute of overtime as No. 23 Long Beach State (10-3-1) rallied for a 2-1 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton (6-6-2).

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It's No. 1 vs. No. 3 when UCLA visits Stanford on Sunday, always the premier showdown in what's now the Pacific 12 Conference -- and this year the biggest in the country.

The top-ranked Cardinal (11-0-1), national runners-up the last two seasons, has won the last four meetings with the Bruins (10-0-1), including a round-of-16 clash in last year's NCAA tournament. They're unbeaten in their last 57 regular-season games, since falling to UCLA on Oct. 31, 2008.

UCLA, which is No. 1 in the RPI and No. 2 in Soccer America's rankings, has used dominant defensive displays while winning its last seven games, five of them by 1-0 scorelines, but its depth in the nets will be tested after senior goalkeeper Chante' Sandiford tore her left Achilles' tendon during training last week. She was the Bruins' starter the past two seasons, but freshman Katelyn Rowland has been in the nets most of this fall.

The Bruins on Friday face California (8-3-1), with Stanford starting the weekend against struggling USC (3-9-0). Cardinal coach Paul Ratcliffe, who played on UCLA's 1990 NCAA men's title-winners, will claim his 200th career victory with his next win.

Ratcliffe, who is from Calabasas, guided St. Mary's for five seasons before taking charge at Stanford in 2003. His teams are 81-4-4 in the past three-plus seasons.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Connor Brandt (Temecula/Great Oak HS) turned a 20th-minute takeaway into a goal to lift Cal State Dominguez Hills to a 1-0 victory Friday at San Francisco State. He went one better two days later, with a steal and a chip in overtime to carry the Toros past Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1.

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