While the wider Bruin Nation got a welcome relief from the torture of UCLA football with a victory over an average Cal team (itself in the middle of a transition period as Tedford tries to find the next QB), UCLA tasted victory in every athletic contest this past week, completing a perfect week for UCLA athletics. For this one weekend, at least, everything appears right in the universe: UCLA football beat Cal, U$C lost, and every non-revenue sport in action picked up nothing but victories.
Of course, this week in non-revenue action isn't as clear cut, as a few programs struggled to assert themselves and barely squeaked out wins. And of course, simply because this was a good week, it doesn't change the need for us to enact wholesale regime change in Westwood. That said, a win is a win, and for this week, the Blue and Gold could not be touched, so let's take a look at how the other UCLA sports teams did this past week:
- Starting with men's golf, the men finally got their season off the ground in earnest, notching their first tournament win of the season. After climbing from sixth to second in the second round this past Monday, the Bruins used a final round surge, led by none other than sophomore sensation Patrick Cantlay, on Tuesday to overtake Georgia Tech, Washington, and Auburn, picking up a three shot victory in the U.S. Collegiate Championship in Georgia.
- While the Bruins' football team was giving the Golden Bears a thumping in Pasadena, the #6-ranked women's volleyball team went to Berkeley and dropped the #2-ranked Golden Bears in four sets, 3-1, to complete a season sweep of the ladies from Cal. Rachael Kidder was the star, leading the team with 22 kills and ably assisted by Tabi Love (14 kills) and freshman Zoe Nightingale (10 kills).
- The women's volleyball team followed their big Berkeley win by going down to Palo Alto and handling the #5-ranked Stanford Cardinal in three straight sets, to complete not only a Bay Area road trip sweep, but the first season sweep of the Cardinal since 2000, and going undefeated against the Northern California schools on the season. Rachael Kidder again notched double figures in kills (16) while senior Lauren Van Orden put up 39 assists in a solid team effort. The Lady Bruins improve to 20-3 on the season and 13-2 in Pac-12 play, maintaining a tie for first place with U$C.
- Turning to men's soccer, Jorge Salcedo's squad has not had the same kind of dominating season that the women's volleyball team has enjoyed, despite the immense talent and depth Jorge has at his disposal. On Friday, the #10-ranked Bruins took on the #19-ranked Washington Huskies at Drake Stadium, and despite dominating the game (15 shots to the Huskies' 5), the Bruins lacked the killer instinct in front of the net, pulling out a narrow 1-0 victory, thanks to sophomore Joe Sofia's first goal of the season.
- The men's soccer team followed that victory up with a 1-0 over Oregon State on Sunday. However, it wasn't pretty, as once again the Bruins dominated the game, firing shot after shot at the Beavers' goal (out-shooting OSU 18-9 in regular time), but unable to open their scoring account in regular time. In fact, it took UCLA the second overtime to finally clinch a victory, through Fernando Monge's goal in the 102nd minute. With the pair of wins, UCLA improves to 12-4-1 overall and 7-0 in Pac-12 play. The Bruins finds themselves now 6 points clear of Washington and only need to grab one point from their next three matches to secure another conference championship. However, with the talent and depth on the roster, the Bruins should make another serious and deep run at the national title.
- Turning away from UCLA for a second, Adam Wright and Chay Lapin, two former Bruin men's water polo players picked up gold medals in the Pan American Games in Mexico City, as the United States dropped Canada 7-3 to win not only a nice gold medal, but to also secure a birth in the 2012 Olympics for the U.S. men's national side. Huge victory for these two Bruins and for the United States as they look toward winning the big one in London in 2012.
- Finally, turning to the #2-ranked women's soccer team, Sydney Leroux and her Lady Bruins got the weekend started with a bang, running rampant over the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday afternoon. The Bruins notched 8 goals in 90 minute, led by Leroux's first half hat trick (bringing her tally to 13 on the season) and sophomore Jenna Richmond's brace. The Bruins ran rampant, dominating the game, never allowing Colorado to get into any kind of flow, shutting the Buffaloes out, and knocking in enough goals to allow Coach B.J. Snow to use his entire roster, getting all 22 girls some game action in garbage time.
- The Bruins next game wasn't quite as easy, as Sydney's squad dominated a defensive struggle against Utah in Salt Lake City (in which they only allowed 4 Utah shots), but needed extra time to grab a winner, with Sydney Leroux netting a golden goal in overtime in the 98th minute. With the clean sweep for the weekend, UCLA improved to 14-1-3 on the season and 7-1-2 in conference play.
Alright folks, that's your non-revenue roundup for the past week. Great week across the board for the Bruins with many of our programs in prime position to make a deep post-season run and contend for a national title and possibly bring another banner (or two) home to Westwood.
Fire away with your thoughts, takes, analysis, and opinions in the comment thread.
GO BRUINS