Bruin Soccer Stars Shining For Team USA

For the soccer fans out here on BN, some fun news. UCLA juniors Michael Stephens and Brian Perk helped the U.S. Under-20 National Team beat Costa Rica in Florida:

Led by UCLA juniors Michael Stephens and Brian Perk, the U.S. Under-20 National Team defeated Costa Rica, 2-1, on Monday at the Development Academy Spring Showcase in Sarasota, FL.

With the U.S. down 1-0 at the half, Stephens tied the game in the 60th minute. After teammate Peri Marosevic ripped a 20-yeard shot that was stopped by the Costa Rican goalkeeper, Stephens pounced on the rebound and tapped it into the goal for his first international goal at the U-20 level. An 88th-minute goal by Jared Jeffrey gave the U.S. the win.

Perk played all 90 minutes in goal and made three saves while allowing one goal, only his first in five games with the U-20s this year. He currently holds an impressive goals against average of 0.188.

The U.S. U-20s will again play Costa Rica on Wednesday morning. <!-- STORY AD BEGINS HERE -->

While Lauren Cheney scored a goal in U.S. Women's National Team's 4-0 win over Canada:

The U.S. Women's National Team scored twice in each half, getting goals from four different players to defeat Canada 4-0 in front of 10,255 fans at BMO Field. It was the USA's first match in Canada since 2001.

Midfielder Shannon Boxx opened the scoring just 93 seconds into the match and midfielder Megan Rapinoe added a second just before the halftime. The USA put two more in the net during a four-minute span late in the game. Both second-half goals came from substitutes, as Lindsay Tarpley scored her 30th career goal in the 77th minute and 21-year-old Lauren Cheney knocked in a fantastic header in the 80th minute.

The USA dominated possession in a match played on the artificial surface at BMO Field and put together some excellent attacking soccer while out-shooting its northern neighbor by a 19-6 margin.

"I am happy about the performance and I am happy that we scored a goal on a corner kick," said U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhage. "That's something we are starting to work on and I believe that come 2011, when the games are so tight, that set plays will be very, very important. So, four nice goals and a pretty good game on turf."

Oh BTW there is an outstanding Bruin in team Canada too. Kara Lang plays the full 90 minutes of Canada. Full details here.

GO BRUINS.