Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Just as the football team gears up for its season opener, the UCLA men's and women's soccer team will also open up their seasons this week. The women open the season  ranked #2 in the country and are led by head coach Jillian Ellis (who just got back from Beijing where she was an assistant coach on the gold medal winning US team). The women's team first game is tonight, August 26, against UC Santa Barbara at home. Meanwhile, the men are ranked #14 in the pre-season rankings and were predicted by by coaches to finish second in the conference. Led by head coach Jorge Salcedo, the Bruins begin the season August 29 at the Home Depot Center against Maryland. The game is Fox Soccer Channel's college game of the week and will be live on the network.

The women's team is coming off a season where they reached the national title game, the fifth consecutive season they've reached the College Cup (college soccer's equivalent to the Final Four). The team returns a number of starters from 2007 and will be led by Junior Lauren Cheney and Senior Christina DiMartino who were each named to the Women's Hermann Trophy Watch List (college soccer's player of the year). Here's what ESPNsoccernet had to say about the two Women's Hermann Trophy contenders:

Lauren Cheney, forward, UCLA. Made a pretty good case to win the Hermann last year.

Cheney earned Soccer America Player of the Year after scoring 23 goals in 23 games. However, she finished second in the Hermann voting to Florida State's Mami Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi bypassed her senior year by signing with Umea IK of the All-Swedish League in March.

Meanwhile, Cheney, Abby Wambach's replacement on the U.S. women's Olympic team, is primed for a big junior year in SoCal.

"The Beijing experience will only help Lauren," said UCLA assistant coach Shannon MacMillan. "But I think she feels a little caged up not playing as much. I think she's going to come back and light it up."

Christina DiMartino, forward, UCLA. Go ahead, try to stop Cheney. Good luck trying, and don't forget about DiMartino: The player that makes UCLA go.

"Our whole game runs through her," MacMillan said.

Adds USC coach Ali Khosroshahin: "Quite frankly, if UCLA isn't playing its best, that's because Christina isn't playing her best. She's a special player." DiMartino, a junior, had six goals and 12 assists last year.

While those two lead the way, they will not be out there alone. RS Junior Kara Lang, a mainstay on the Canadian National Team since making her first appearance at the age of 15, had 7 goals last season in her first year after ACL surgery and is expected to take another jump forward this year. Sophomore Lauren Barnes started all 24 game her freshman year and is expect to be the defensive anchor behind a midfield that returns each started from 2007.

Over on the men's side, the Bruins will look to bounce back from a disappointing 2007 season in which they went from pre-season #1 to 2nd round NCAA Tournament defeat. The team will have a glut of talent like usual, but getting that talent to gel has been an issue. Here's what College Soccer News had to say when previewing the Bruins for '08:

The Bruins are accustomed to a higher preseason ranking  but the bottom line is that they enter the 2008 season off a subpar 9-9-3 overall record.  Seven starters return including forward Maxwell Griffin, midfielders Jason Leopoldo and Kyle Nakazawa, defender Brad Rusin, and goalkeeper Brian Perk.  Big early wins may rocket the Bruins upward.

The Bruins will certainly have their chance at some big wins this season, especially early. UCLA will play six non-conference games against top 25 teams, including five in their first six games. If they can pick up a couple wins in those first few games, look for the Bruins to rocket up the rankings and hopefully through the NCAA Tournament.

Of all the returning Bruins, the star is probably Nakazawa who was named to the Men's Hermann Trophy Watch List. The key to the season may be Junior David Estrada who went from unheralded walk-on to National Freshman of the Year before having a disappointing 2007 season. If he can find his freshman form, no team in the country will have a better foursome going forward than the Bruins with Estrada, Griffin, Nakazawa and Leopoldo. Joining the returning Bruins, UCLA will also welcome yet another stout freshmen class to Westwood. The class is led by forward Eder Arreola who is a member of the U.S. U-18 national team and midfielder Chris Cummings who is a member of the U.S. U-17 national team and an NSCAA Youth All-American.

It looks like both teams have a good chance at making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament and bringing home a national title. Hopefully the women can get over the hump and win that final game, while the men need to find some sort of consistency. If you can at some point during the season, make your way our to Drake Stadium and check the teams out. On Sundays during the conference season you can even watch both teams play in a doubleheader for the price of one ticket ($7 for adults, $5 for children and free for Wooden Card holders and students). Here is the men's season schedule and here is the women's season schedule.

Don't forget this Friday, August 29, the Bruins and Terps will play at the Home Depot Center (tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children and parking is free) in the Game of the Week and the game will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel. GO BRUINS!!!

Also, last year I did a weekly non-revenue sports update for a few weeks (This is what they were like). There didn't seem to be much interest so I stopped, but if you'd like me to do it again just let me know. I'd be happy to do it if there was enough interest in it.