Nov. 6, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The regular season schedule came to a close Sunday for the Arizona State University soccer team as it fell in heartbreaking fashion to No. 4 UCLA, 2-1, at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. Tied at one, the Bruins scored with 30 seconds remaining in regulation to win the match and the conference crown.
The loss dropped the Sun Devils to 9-8-3 overall on the season and 4-4-1 in the Pac-10 while the Bruins improved to 17-1-2 overall and 7-0-2 in the conference. In the final standings, UCLA accumulated 23 points to win the 2005 Pac-10 Championship while ASU's 13 points tied it for fifth with Arizona and Washington State. During the season, the Sun Devils defeated both teams, including a 4-2 decision over the Cougars in Pullman, Wash., and a 2-1 upset of then-No. 25 Arizona in Tucson.
The Bruins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Kara Lang found the back of the net at 14:05 into the first half. Iris Mora was credited with the assist after she feed a pass through the defense to Lang, who was cutting down the center of the field.
Trailing by one goal following the intermission, the Sun Devils struck in the 57th minute of play to tie the match as Brittany Cooper (Sr., Albuquerque, N.M.) recorded her ninth score of the season. Cooper collected the ball, turned and broke away from the defense down the middle of the pitch before firing a shot into the goal for the equalizer. After a back-and-forth battle for the remainder of the match, Danesha Adams scored her 15th goal of the year with 89:30 played to break the 1-1 tie and give the Bruins the victory.
Between the posts, Kim Bingham (Jr., Pleasanton, Calif.) recorded three saves on five shots faced while her counterpart, Valerie Henderson, stopped two of ASU's three shots on goal. Overall, the Sun Devils fired 13 shots to UCLA's 15.
Cooper's goal for the Sun Devils gave her 31 for her career and tied her with fellow senior Elizabeth Bogus (Sandy, Utah) for No. 2 on the ASU all-time goals list. Cooper also is third all-time in career points with 78.
ASU will now wait until Monday at 5 p.m. EST (3 p.m. local) to see if it has been selected to compete in the NCAA Championships that begin Friday at selected campus sites. The announcements will be aired live on ESPNews.