While the wider Bruin Nation got a welcome relief from the torture of UCLA football with a win over an overrated, undisciplined Arizona State team, despite Neuheisel's play-not-to-lose mentality, UCLA's non-revenue sports had another solid week.
Once again, despite a strong week on paper, a few Bruin squads failed to assert themselves and take the next step to domination. 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 basketball, while CBH's team got their season started with an exhibition win over Division II Cal State San Bernardino last night, Cori Close's team got her first season in charge in Westwood started with an exhibition game against NAIA squad Vanguard University tonight, with the game well underway following their 7 p.m. PST at the Wooden Center.
- Turning to men's golf, it was a week of mixed results. Despite playing in relatively familiar surroundings, the #8-ranked squad couldn't out-play U$C, coming up just short at the Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin. Coming up four shots short, the Bruins were forced to end their fall schedule with a second place finish to hated U$C. On the other hand, on Friday, Patrick Cantlay was awarded the Fred Haskins Award (for the best collegiate golf player, sort of like the Heisman or Maxwell for golf), joining some impressive company (past winners include UCLA's own Kevin Chappell, as well as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson). Given his impressive form and incredible run over the summer, the Haskins was no surprise.
- For Jorge Salcedo's squad, the #8-ranked men's soccer team clinched the Pac-12 conference title with their 2-0 victory over Cal in Berkeley on Friday. With goals coming from Eder Arreola (37th minute) and Chandler Hoffman (88th minute), the Bruins played a dominating game (out-shooting the Golden Bears 21-8) on the road to win the conference title in style. On Sunday, the Bruins wrapped up their Bay Area trip against Stanford in Palo Alto, dropping the Cardinal by a score of 3-0, with goals coming from Victor Chavez (13th minute, assisted by none other than Bruin goal assassin Chandler Hoffman) and Shawn Singh (56th minute). Woeful Stanford hurt themselves in the process, putting in an own goal in the 14th minute. At the end of the weekend, UCLA stands at 14-4-1 on the year and a perfect 9-0-0 in Pac-12 play. Their conference title marks the seventh conference title for UCLA.
- Turning to the first of UCLA's current top-ranked teams, the #1-ranked men's water polo squad took on a tough #8-ranked Pacific squad at Speiker Aquatics Center in Westwood. It took a sudden-death overtime (after two regular overtime periods) for the Bruins to dispatch the Tigers, winning 13-12, with Cristiano Mirarchi grabbing the game-winner. The Bruins were led by Josh Samuels (5 goals) and Cullen Hennessey's first hat trick of the season. Adam Wright's squad had a much easier time of it on Sunday, beating #11-ranked UC San Diego 9-4, led by a pair of braces from Paul Reynolds and Griffin White. With the pair of weekend wins, the Bruins improve to 17-3 on the season and 3-1 in conference play.
- Turning to the #2-ranked women's soccer team, the ladies finished their season the way every Bruin squad should: by beating hated rival U$C. The women gave Second Choice a good beat-down, dropping U$C 5-2. Senior Sydney Leroux, in her regular season Drake Stadium swan song, led the Bruins with a pair of goals (20th and 53rd minutes) to bring her tally to 16 on the season. Meanwhile, freshman Samantha Mewis added a brace of her own to show the UCLA faithful that the future is bright once Leroux moves on from Westwood. The ladies finish the season with a 15-1-3 record overall and 8-1-2 in Pac-12 play (the sole loss on the season coming to top-ranked Stanford). As a result, the ladies earned a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament (HT Ryan) where they'll get their post-season quest for another national title started against New Mexico on Saturday at Drake Stadium.
- Flipping over to the #1-ranked women's golf team, the ladies wrapped up their fall schedule in style, dominating the Rainbow Wahine Invitational on Oahu, adding another tournament title to their collection. The ladies didn't even make it close, winning the title in Hawaii with a 20-shot lead over second-place Washington. On the individual side, the Bruins dominated, with junior Lee Lopez taking top honors, followed by Stephanie Kono in second place.
- Finally, the #1-ranked women's volleyball team (gee, we have a lot of top-ranked squads of late), earned a clean sweep over the Washington schools this weekend. The ladies got the weekend started against Washington, earning revenge for their defeat in Seattle, sweeping the Huskies in three straight sets. Numerous Bruins had big games against the Husky women (see what I just did there), with Rachael Kidder contributing 19 kills, Kelly Reeves adding 18 digs, while Tabi Love added a dozen kills and freshman Zoe Nightingale put up 10 kills of her own. The women followed up their victory over Washington by dropping Washington State in three straight sets, during which the women never trailed to put the Cougars down 3-0. Freshman Priscilla Duke-Ezeji set a new career high by posting 14 kills, while Kelly Reeves continued her solid play, coming up just short of a double-double with 8 kills and 9 digs. The ladies improve to 22-3 on the season and 15-2 in conference play as they continue their march toward the post-season and (hopefully) another UCLA national title.
Alright folks, that's your non-revenue roundup for the past week. Great week for a lot of top-ranked UCLA squads, as UCLA once again looks to be in the mix for a national title in multiple sports. But while our non-revenue sports are doing great (as usual), we shouldn't let that be a crutch for Guerrero's Reign of Error, and we have to keep our eye on the ultimate prize to do right by our student athletes: wholesale regime change in Westwood.
Fire away with your thoughts, takes, analysis, and opinions in the comment thread.
GO BRUINS