Friday, November 21
Stanford, Calif.
4:00 PM PT
UCLA
vs
BYU
Bridgette Marin-Valencia
Photo by: Don Liebig, UCLA Photography
Bruins Head to Bay Area for NCAA Second Round
November 18, 2025 | Women's Soccer
NCAA Second Round
No. 4 seed UCLA (12-5-3) vs. No. 5 seed BYU (11-6-5)
Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 – 4 p.m. PT
Location: Stanford, Calif. (Laird Q. Cagan Stadium)
Broadcast: ESPN+
Live Stats: ncaa.com
Tickets: tickets.gostanford.com
UCLA HEADS TO STANFORD FOR NCAA SECOND ROUND
No. 4 seed UCLA (12-5-3) will travel to Stanford for the NCAA second round to face No. 5 seed BYU (11-6-5) on Friday, Nov. 21. The match will take place at Stanford's Laird Q. Cagan Stadium at 4 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ESPN+. The winner will advance to the NCAA third round on Monday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. PT against the winner of Stanford-Alabama.
BAY AREA BRUINS
It will be a homecoming for several members of the Bruin team, as eight players on the roster are from the Bay Area. Four are from San Jose - Jordan Geis (Archbishop Mitty HS), America Frias (Leigh HS), Jennie Immethun (Piedmont Hills HS) and Sammy Sanchez (Independence HS). Laila Edris hails from Mountain View (Mountain View HS), Milla Shafie is from Los Altos (Homestead HS), Bridgette Marin-Valencia is from San Francisco (Immaculate Conception Academy), and Layla Armas attended California HS in San Ramon. Additionally, head coach Margueritte Aozasa is from Mountain View and attended Los Altos HS and Santa Clara University.
UCLA'S NCAA HISTORY
The Bruins, who are making their 29th overall and 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, have a 76-22-8 all-time NCAA Tournament record, with a pair of NCAA titles in 2022 and 2013. UCLA has made four College Cup appearances (2022, 2019, 2017 and 2013) in the last 13 seasons and 12 overall. UCLA is seeded for the 13th consecutive year.
UCLA AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD
UCLA posted a 4-5-1 record against members of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field during the regular season. The Bruins have wins over No. 1 seed Stanford (2-0, still the Cardinal's only loss of the year), No. 5 seed Iowa (3-0 and No. 8 seeds Georgia (1-0) and Penn State (2-1). All of UCLA's non-victories this year have come to seeded teams - No 2 seed Michigan State (1-1 tie and 2-1 loss in overtime), No. 3 seed Tennessee (1-0 loss), No. 4 seeds Washington (1-0 loss) and Wisconsin (1-0 loss), and No. 5 seed BYU (1-0 loss).
NCAA EXPERIENCE
The Bruins have just 13 players on the squad who played in a NCAA Tournament game prior to this season - redshirt seniors Emma Egizii and Lexi Wright; seniors Lily Boyden, America Frias, Jennie Immethun and Bridgette Marin-Valencia; juniors Milla Shafie and Val Vargas, and sophomores Kara Croone, Paloma Daubert, Nicki Fraser, Jordan Geis and Avery Robinson. Marin-Valencia has the most NCAA experience on the team, having now played in 10 tournament games. Wright leads all current players in NCAA tournament scoring, with three goals and seven points.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
BYU is making its eighth consecutive and 26th overall NCAA appearance. The Cougars earned an automatic bid into the tournament after winning the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 8 seed. BYU advanced to the NCAA second round over Utah State after a 1-1 draw followed by an 11-round penalty kick shootout. Goalkeeper Chelsea Peterson came up big in the shootout, stopping three penalty kicks to help the Cougars advance. BYU is led offensively by first-team All-Big 12 forward Ellie Walbruch, who has scored 16 goals this season. Walbruch was a freshman on UCLA's 2022 NCAA Championship squad before transfering to BYU in 2023. Another UCLA transfer on BYU's squad is MacKenzee Vance, who has scored two goals and seven points.
THE SERIES WITH BYU
The series between UCLA and BYU is even at 4-4-1 after the Cougars won this year's matchup in Provo, 1-0, on Aug. 23. Ellie Walbruch scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 14th minute after a foul in the box. UCLA won last year's matchup in Westwood, 1-0, on a sixth-minute goal by Meg Boade. This will be the two teams' third meeting in the NCAA Tournament. BYU won the first NCAA matchup, 2-0, in the second round in 1998. The two teams tied in the 2010 first round, with UCLA advancing on penalty kicks, 4-3.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 4 seed UCLA scored two first-half goals and another in the final 49 seconds to hand Pepperdine a 3-1 defeat in the NCAA first round at a rain-soaked Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Redshirt senior Emma Egizii put UCLA on the board quickly at 2:04, nutmegging a Pepperdine player before dribbling center towards goal. From about 25 yards out, Egizii fired a right-footed shot to the far post for the goal, her sixth of the season. Redshirt freshman Bella Winn doubled the Bruins' lead in the 31st minute. After Kara Croone's shot was blocked, Winn collected the rebound and shot from the top of the arc, hitting the left post and going in. The goal was Winn's team-leading ninth goal of the year. Pepperdine cut the lead in half at 88:06 and threatened to tie with a corner kick with under 90 seconds to play, but the Bruins defended the corner well and sent a long ball down the field with the Waves goalkeeper playing up during the corner. Payten Cooper tracked down the ball and scored the insurance goal with 49 seconds on the clock.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA ranks No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 22 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. BYU is ranked No. 12 by Top Drawer Soccer. Seven of UCLA's opponents this year finished the regular season ranked in the coaches poll - No. 1 Stanford, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 13 Washington, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 19 Georgia, and No. 21 Iowa. UCLA is 3-4-1 against those teams, with wins over Georgia, Stanford and Iowa.
NINE BRUINS EARN BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS
UCLA placed six players on the all-conference team and three on the all-freshman team, led by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Bella Winn. The Bruins tied with Washington for the most all-conference selections and led all conference teams with the most all-freshman picks.
Winn received multiple honors to go along with her Freshman of the Year award. She was also named to the All-Big Ten second team and was a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman Team. The redshirt freshman from Ridgewood, N.J. leads UCLA in scoring with seven goals, 16 points and four game-winning goals. She is UCLA's second consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Year, following 2024 winner Nicki Fraser. Two Bruin seniors earned first-team All-Big Ten honors – midfielder Emma Egizii and defender Jennie Immethun. Selected to the third team were sophomore forward Kara Croone, senior midfielder America Frias and sophomore defender Paloma Daubert, all of whom received their first career honors. Winn, Grace Shank and Daphne Nakfoor were selected to the All-Freshman team, and senior Lexi Wright earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
HIGHLY-RANKED DEFENSE
UCLA ranks second in the NCAA in goals allowed this season with just nine in 20 games. The Bruin defense has recorded 12 shutouts and holds a team goals against average of 0.45, which ranks second in the nation. UCLA ranks No. 11 nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten in shutout percentage (0.600). Only one team - Michigan State on Nov. 6 - has scored multiple goals against the Bruins in a single game. UCLA has still not allowed more than one goal in regulation in any game this season. Four of the Bruins' five losses have been by 1-0 scores. UCLA has held opponents to single-digit shots in 13 of 20 games, including single-shot games against No. 6 Tennessee and No. 5 Iowa, a two-shot game against Maryland, and three-shot games at Portland, against Oregon, at Michigan, against Rutgers and at Wisconsin. Two opponents have been held without a shot on goal - Rutgers and USC. Freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor has allowed just nine goals and ranks sixth in the nation and second in the Big Ten with a 0.532 goals against average. She has six solo shutouts and five shared shutouts. Mariangela Medina has one solo and five shared shutouts and has not allowed a goal in 280 minutes played.
The Bruin defense is almost completely new from 2024, with only Paloma Daubert returning from the squad that led the nation with 16 shutuouts and a 0.42 goals against average. The 2024 Bruin defense featured two NWSL starters in Lilly Reale and Jayden Perry, All-American and NWSL goalkeeper Ryan Campbell, and 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Nicki Fraser, who has been out all season due to an injury. The 2025 Bruin defense has featured senior transfer Jennie Immethun, sophomore Daubert, senior Lily Boyden and freshmen Grace Shank and Laila Edris, along with freshman goalkeeper Nakfoor. Freshman center back Meila Brewer has only played eight games this year due to National Team commitments.
BALANCED SCORING
Ten different players have scored for the Bruins this season. Bella Winn leads the team with eight goals, Emma Egizii has five, Payten Cooper has three, and Kara Croone and Val Vargas have scored two each. Five others have one goal each - Jordan Geis, Grace Shank, Oruha Hayashi, Lexi Wright and Lily Boyden. Two more players are on the stat sheet with one assist each - Leena Powell and Julia Molnar.
GAME WINN-ER
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Bella Winn continues to hit game-winners for the Bruins. Of her eight goals this year, five have been game-winners - at Georgia Aug. 14, vs. Stanford Sept. 7, vs. Maryland Sept. 28, vs. Nebraska Oct. 19 and vs. Pepperdine Nov. 15. Another was a game-tying goal against Penn State in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. Winn's most recent game-winner came Nov. 15 in the NCAA first round against Pepperdine. Winn ranks second in the Big Ten and 20th nationally with five game-winning goals. She also leads the team in goals scored with eight and in points with 18. Winn's two-goal game against Nebraska was the first multiple-goal game by a Bruin since Emma Egizii scored two goals in the 2024 season opener on Aug. 15, 2024. Winn also had an assist in that game, giving her five points, the most by a Bruin since Oct. 8, 2023 when Reilyn Turner recorded six points after a hat trick.
EASY LIKE EGIZII
Redshirt senior Emma Egizii is having her finest season as a collegiate player, a year after missing nearly the entire season due to a knee injury. Egizii has started and played in 19 of UCLA's 20 games, totaling career-highs in goals with five, assists with a team-leading six, points with 16 and minutes played with 1,262. A first-team All-Big Ten honoree, Egizii ranks second on the team in goals and points. In her last six games alone, she has totaled three goals and three assists.
BIG GAME GEIS
Sophomore Jordan Geis came through once again for the Bruins in the Big Ten Tournament, scoring the game-winner in the 77th minute UCLA's quarterfinal win over Penn State. Geis's last two goals scored have been in the Big Ten Tournament. In last season's championship match against Rutgers, she bombed a 45-yard shot as time was expiring in the first half, giving UCLA a 3-0 halftime lead. Geis has three career goals, and two of those were game-winners in late-game comebacks. Her first collegiate goal came late in the second half and completed a UCLA comeback in the Bruins' first-ever Big Ten Conference game at Oregon on Sept. 14, 2024.
FOURS UP FOR NAKFOOR
UCLA freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor has started 19 of UCLA's 20 games in goal this season and became the first true freshman to start in goal on opening day for UCLA since Teagan Micah in 2016. Nakfoor ranks sixth nationally with a goals against average of 0.532, allowing just nine goals this season. She has six solo and five shared shutouts. On Sept. 9, Nakfoor earned Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week and Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week honors after recording a pair of shutouts at Portland and against then-top-ranked Stanford. She recorded nine saves on 21 shots against the Cardinal, the most saves by a Bruin goalkeeper since Lauren Brzykcy also had nine against Duke in 2022, and totaled five at Michigan State. Nakfoor became the first goalkeeper this season to record a shutout against Stanford, which had entered the game as the nation's top scoring offense.
COMEBACK KIDS
Redshirt seniors Emma Egizii and Lexi Wright and redshirt freshman forwards Bella Winn and Sammy Sanchez all returned to action this year after missing most, if not all, of the 2024 season with injuries.
Egizii, who scored two goals in three games in 2024 before getting injured during game four of the season, posted her first goal of the year against Portland on Sept. 4 and accounted for four of UCLA's six goals in a pair of 3-0 wins against Iowa and Nebraska, scoring one goal and totaling three assists en route to Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week honors. She leads the Bruins in assists with six and ranks second in scoring with 16 points and five goals, including three goals and three assists in her last six games. She earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.
Wright sustained a season-ending injury early in preseason in 2024 but has come back to play 13 games in her redshirt senior season this year. Her first goal since 2023 came against No. 1 Stanford, her second career goal in two games against top-ranked teams. She also assisted on the game-winner at Michigan.
Winn is UCLA's leading scorer, totaling eight goals, five game-winning goals and 18 points. She was selected the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was the only freshman to earn all-conference honors, receiving second-team acclaim. She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Oct. 21 after contributing to all three of UCLA's goals in the win over Nebraska, with two goals and one assist. In 2024, Winn recorded a goal and an assist in the Bruins' first two games of the year but was injured while scoring her goal.
Sanchez made her season debut on Oct. 19 against Nebraska, playing 19 minutes and taking one shot on goal. Sanchez played in the first four games of her freshman campaign before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Aug. 25, 2024 against Santa Clara. She had averaged 44 minutes in those four games, with a high of 58 minutes off the bench at Cal Poly.
VAMOS VARGAS
Junior Val Vargas has either scored or assisted on the game-winning goal in four of the Bruins' last seven victories. She accounted for the Bruins' lone goals in their 1-0 wins over Rutgers Sept. 25 and at Michigan Sept. 21 and assisted on the game-winners vs. Maryland on Sept. 28 and vs. Nebraska on Oct. 19. Vargas' last three goals scored for UCLA have been game-winners, two of them coming against Rutgers, in the 2024 Big Ten Championship game and at home on Sept. 25. She ranks third on the team with three assists and seven points.
IMPACT TRANSFERS
UCLA welcomed two experienced transfers to the squad in 2025 - defender Jennie Immethun and forward Oruha Hayashi. Immethun comes to UCLA from TCU, where she earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2024. She started 20 games in 2024 while helping the Big 12 champions record seven shutouts, and in 2023, she started in 10 games. Hayashi joined the Bruins after two years at Iowa Western, where she twice won the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Year for Junior College Division 1. Hayashi, who scored 25 goals in 2024 and 19 in 2023, was selected the 2024-25 Betty Jo Graber NJCAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Both have made big impacts on their new team, as Immethun was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Bruins record a shutout in the season opener. She leads UCLA in minutes played with 1782 and has two goal line saves while leading a Bruin defense that has allowed just nine goals all year and holds a 0.45 goals against average. Hayashi has played in 19 games and has 14 starts. She scored a goal in the Bruins' exhibition win over LMU and netted her first official goal as a Bruin in the 2-0 win over Long Beach State and her first assist on UCLA's final goal in the 2-0 win over Stanford. She added another assist on the game-tying goal at Michigan State and assisted on the game-winner against Iowa. She ranks second on the team in assists with five and third in scoring with seven points.
FRESH CLASS
The Bruins have a dynamic freshman class, highlighted by U.S. Youth National Team players Sofia Atehortua, Meila Brewer, Cassidy Doogan, Daphne Nakfoor, Leena Powell and Grace Shank, and Egyptian Youth National Team player Laila Edris. Powell played in the 2025 U-20 Concacaf Championships, and Brewer helped lead the U-17s to the 4 Nations Tournament title this summer and played in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in the fall. Also joining UCLA in 2025 were freshmen Payten Cooper, Jordyn Dunn, Siena Meyer and Julia Molnar. All 11 freshmen saw action in the Bruins' exhibition against LMU, and all but Dunn has seen action this season. Three freshmen have started in 10 or more games - Nakfoor with 19, Powell with 15, and Shank with 14. Cooper, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Sept. 2, ranks third on the team with three goals and seven points. Shank, a Big Ten All-Freshman selection and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 21, has three points and netted her first career goal on Oct. 16 vs. Iowa. Molnar assisted on Shank's goal for her first collegiate point. Powell is the fourth freshman to score a point, as she assisted Cooper on the game-winner against Long Beach State. Nakfoor, a Big Ten All-Freshman selection and the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week on Sept. 9, ranks sixth in the nation with a 0.52 goals against average and has six solo and five shared shutouts.
No. 4 seed UCLA (12-5-3) vs. No. 5 seed BYU (11-6-5)
Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 – 4 p.m. PT
Location: Stanford, Calif. (Laird Q. Cagan Stadium)
Broadcast: ESPN+
Live Stats: ncaa.com
Tickets: tickets.gostanford.com
UCLA HEADS TO STANFORD FOR NCAA SECOND ROUND
No. 4 seed UCLA (12-5-3) will travel to Stanford for the NCAA second round to face No. 5 seed BYU (11-6-5) on Friday, Nov. 21. The match will take place at Stanford's Laird Q. Cagan Stadium at 4 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ESPN+. The winner will advance to the NCAA third round on Monday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. PT against the winner of Stanford-Alabama.
BAY AREA BRUINS
It will be a homecoming for several members of the Bruin team, as eight players on the roster are from the Bay Area. Four are from San Jose - Jordan Geis (Archbishop Mitty HS), America Frias (Leigh HS), Jennie Immethun (Piedmont Hills HS) and Sammy Sanchez (Independence HS). Laila Edris hails from Mountain View (Mountain View HS), Milla Shafie is from Los Altos (Homestead HS), Bridgette Marin-Valencia is from San Francisco (Immaculate Conception Academy), and Layla Armas attended California HS in San Ramon. Additionally, head coach Margueritte Aozasa is from Mountain View and attended Los Altos HS and Santa Clara University.
UCLA'S NCAA HISTORY
The Bruins, who are making their 29th overall and 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, have a 76-22-8 all-time NCAA Tournament record, with a pair of NCAA titles in 2022 and 2013. UCLA has made four College Cup appearances (2022, 2019, 2017 and 2013) in the last 13 seasons and 12 overall. UCLA is seeded for the 13th consecutive year.
UCLA AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD
UCLA posted a 4-5-1 record against members of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field during the regular season. The Bruins have wins over No. 1 seed Stanford (2-0, still the Cardinal's only loss of the year), No. 5 seed Iowa (3-0 and No. 8 seeds Georgia (1-0) and Penn State (2-1). All of UCLA's non-victories this year have come to seeded teams - No 2 seed Michigan State (1-1 tie and 2-1 loss in overtime), No. 3 seed Tennessee (1-0 loss), No. 4 seeds Washington (1-0 loss) and Wisconsin (1-0 loss), and No. 5 seed BYU (1-0 loss).
NCAA EXPERIENCE
The Bruins have just 13 players on the squad who played in a NCAA Tournament game prior to this season - redshirt seniors Emma Egizii and Lexi Wright; seniors Lily Boyden, America Frias, Jennie Immethun and Bridgette Marin-Valencia; juniors Milla Shafie and Val Vargas, and sophomores Kara Croone, Paloma Daubert, Nicki Fraser, Jordan Geis and Avery Robinson. Marin-Valencia has the most NCAA experience on the team, having now played in 10 tournament games. Wright leads all current players in NCAA tournament scoring, with three goals and seven points.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
BYU is making its eighth consecutive and 26th overall NCAA appearance. The Cougars earned an automatic bid into the tournament after winning the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 8 seed. BYU advanced to the NCAA second round over Utah State after a 1-1 draw followed by an 11-round penalty kick shootout. Goalkeeper Chelsea Peterson came up big in the shootout, stopping three penalty kicks to help the Cougars advance. BYU is led offensively by first-team All-Big 12 forward Ellie Walbruch, who has scored 16 goals this season. Walbruch was a freshman on UCLA's 2022 NCAA Championship squad before transfering to BYU in 2023. Another UCLA transfer on BYU's squad is MacKenzee Vance, who has scored two goals and seven points.
THE SERIES WITH BYU
The series between UCLA and BYU is even at 4-4-1 after the Cougars won this year's matchup in Provo, 1-0, on Aug. 23. Ellie Walbruch scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 14th minute after a foul in the box. UCLA won last year's matchup in Westwood, 1-0, on a sixth-minute goal by Meg Boade. This will be the two teams' third meeting in the NCAA Tournament. BYU won the first NCAA matchup, 2-0, in the second round in 1998. The two teams tied in the 2010 first round, with UCLA advancing on penalty kicks, 4-3.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 4 seed UCLA scored two first-half goals and another in the final 49 seconds to hand Pepperdine a 3-1 defeat in the NCAA first round at a rain-soaked Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Redshirt senior Emma Egizii put UCLA on the board quickly at 2:04, nutmegging a Pepperdine player before dribbling center towards goal. From about 25 yards out, Egizii fired a right-footed shot to the far post for the goal, her sixth of the season. Redshirt freshman Bella Winn doubled the Bruins' lead in the 31st minute. After Kara Croone's shot was blocked, Winn collected the rebound and shot from the top of the arc, hitting the left post and going in. The goal was Winn's team-leading ninth goal of the year. Pepperdine cut the lead in half at 88:06 and threatened to tie with a corner kick with under 90 seconds to play, but the Bruins defended the corner well and sent a long ball down the field with the Waves goalkeeper playing up during the corner. Payten Cooper tracked down the ball and scored the insurance goal with 49 seconds on the clock.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA ranks No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 22 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. BYU is ranked No. 12 by Top Drawer Soccer. Seven of UCLA's opponents this year finished the regular season ranked in the coaches poll - No. 1 Stanford, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 13 Washington, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 19 Georgia, and No. 21 Iowa. UCLA is 3-4-1 against those teams, with wins over Georgia, Stanford and Iowa.
NINE BRUINS EARN BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS
UCLA placed six players on the all-conference team and three on the all-freshman team, led by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Bella Winn. The Bruins tied with Washington for the most all-conference selections and led all conference teams with the most all-freshman picks.
Winn received multiple honors to go along with her Freshman of the Year award. She was also named to the All-Big Ten second team and was a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman Team. The redshirt freshman from Ridgewood, N.J. leads UCLA in scoring with seven goals, 16 points and four game-winning goals. She is UCLA's second consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Year, following 2024 winner Nicki Fraser. Two Bruin seniors earned first-team All-Big Ten honors – midfielder Emma Egizii and defender Jennie Immethun. Selected to the third team were sophomore forward Kara Croone, senior midfielder America Frias and sophomore defender Paloma Daubert, all of whom received their first career honors. Winn, Grace Shank and Daphne Nakfoor were selected to the All-Freshman team, and senior Lexi Wright earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
HIGHLY-RANKED DEFENSE
UCLA ranks second in the NCAA in goals allowed this season with just nine in 20 games. The Bruin defense has recorded 12 shutouts and holds a team goals against average of 0.45, which ranks second in the nation. UCLA ranks No. 11 nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten in shutout percentage (0.600). Only one team - Michigan State on Nov. 6 - has scored multiple goals against the Bruins in a single game. UCLA has still not allowed more than one goal in regulation in any game this season. Four of the Bruins' five losses have been by 1-0 scores. UCLA has held opponents to single-digit shots in 13 of 20 games, including single-shot games against No. 6 Tennessee and No. 5 Iowa, a two-shot game against Maryland, and three-shot games at Portland, against Oregon, at Michigan, against Rutgers and at Wisconsin. Two opponents have been held without a shot on goal - Rutgers and USC. Freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor has allowed just nine goals and ranks sixth in the nation and second in the Big Ten with a 0.532 goals against average. She has six solo shutouts and five shared shutouts. Mariangela Medina has one solo and five shared shutouts and has not allowed a goal in 280 minutes played.
The Bruin defense is almost completely new from 2024, with only Paloma Daubert returning from the squad that led the nation with 16 shutuouts and a 0.42 goals against average. The 2024 Bruin defense featured two NWSL starters in Lilly Reale and Jayden Perry, All-American and NWSL goalkeeper Ryan Campbell, and 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Nicki Fraser, who has been out all season due to an injury. The 2025 Bruin defense has featured senior transfer Jennie Immethun, sophomore Daubert, senior Lily Boyden and freshmen Grace Shank and Laila Edris, along with freshman goalkeeper Nakfoor. Freshman center back Meila Brewer has only played eight games this year due to National Team commitments.
BALANCED SCORING
Ten different players have scored for the Bruins this season. Bella Winn leads the team with eight goals, Emma Egizii has five, Payten Cooper has three, and Kara Croone and Val Vargas have scored two each. Five others have one goal each - Jordan Geis, Grace Shank, Oruha Hayashi, Lexi Wright and Lily Boyden. Two more players are on the stat sheet with one assist each - Leena Powell and Julia Molnar.
GAME WINN-ER
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Bella Winn continues to hit game-winners for the Bruins. Of her eight goals this year, five have been game-winners - at Georgia Aug. 14, vs. Stanford Sept. 7, vs. Maryland Sept. 28, vs. Nebraska Oct. 19 and vs. Pepperdine Nov. 15. Another was a game-tying goal against Penn State in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. Winn's most recent game-winner came Nov. 15 in the NCAA first round against Pepperdine. Winn ranks second in the Big Ten and 20th nationally with five game-winning goals. She also leads the team in goals scored with eight and in points with 18. Winn's two-goal game against Nebraska was the first multiple-goal game by a Bruin since Emma Egizii scored two goals in the 2024 season opener on Aug. 15, 2024. Winn also had an assist in that game, giving her five points, the most by a Bruin since Oct. 8, 2023 when Reilyn Turner recorded six points after a hat trick.
EASY LIKE EGIZII
Redshirt senior Emma Egizii is having her finest season as a collegiate player, a year after missing nearly the entire season due to a knee injury. Egizii has started and played in 19 of UCLA's 20 games, totaling career-highs in goals with five, assists with a team-leading six, points with 16 and minutes played with 1,262. A first-team All-Big Ten honoree, Egizii ranks second on the team in goals and points. In her last six games alone, she has totaled three goals and three assists.
BIG GAME GEIS
Sophomore Jordan Geis came through once again for the Bruins in the Big Ten Tournament, scoring the game-winner in the 77th minute UCLA's quarterfinal win over Penn State. Geis's last two goals scored have been in the Big Ten Tournament. In last season's championship match against Rutgers, she bombed a 45-yard shot as time was expiring in the first half, giving UCLA a 3-0 halftime lead. Geis has three career goals, and two of those were game-winners in late-game comebacks. Her first collegiate goal came late in the second half and completed a UCLA comeback in the Bruins' first-ever Big Ten Conference game at Oregon on Sept. 14, 2024.
FOURS UP FOR NAKFOOR
UCLA freshman goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor has started 19 of UCLA's 20 games in goal this season and became the first true freshman to start in goal on opening day for UCLA since Teagan Micah in 2016. Nakfoor ranks sixth nationally with a goals against average of 0.532, allowing just nine goals this season. She has six solo and five shared shutouts. On Sept. 9, Nakfoor earned Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week and Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week honors after recording a pair of shutouts at Portland and against then-top-ranked Stanford. She recorded nine saves on 21 shots against the Cardinal, the most saves by a Bruin goalkeeper since Lauren Brzykcy also had nine against Duke in 2022, and totaled five at Michigan State. Nakfoor became the first goalkeeper this season to record a shutout against Stanford, which had entered the game as the nation's top scoring offense.
COMEBACK KIDS
Redshirt seniors Emma Egizii and Lexi Wright and redshirt freshman forwards Bella Winn and Sammy Sanchez all returned to action this year after missing most, if not all, of the 2024 season with injuries.
Egizii, who scored two goals in three games in 2024 before getting injured during game four of the season, posted her first goal of the year against Portland on Sept. 4 and accounted for four of UCLA's six goals in a pair of 3-0 wins against Iowa and Nebraska, scoring one goal and totaling three assists en route to Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week honors. She leads the Bruins in assists with six and ranks second in scoring with 16 points and five goals, including three goals and three assists in her last six games. She earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.
Wright sustained a season-ending injury early in preseason in 2024 but has come back to play 13 games in her redshirt senior season this year. Her first goal since 2023 came against No. 1 Stanford, her second career goal in two games against top-ranked teams. She also assisted on the game-winner at Michigan.
Winn is UCLA's leading scorer, totaling eight goals, five game-winning goals and 18 points. She was selected the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was the only freshman to earn all-conference honors, receiving second-team acclaim. She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Oct. 21 after contributing to all three of UCLA's goals in the win over Nebraska, with two goals and one assist. In 2024, Winn recorded a goal and an assist in the Bruins' first two games of the year but was injured while scoring her goal.
Sanchez made her season debut on Oct. 19 against Nebraska, playing 19 minutes and taking one shot on goal. Sanchez played in the first four games of her freshman campaign before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Aug. 25, 2024 against Santa Clara. She had averaged 44 minutes in those four games, with a high of 58 minutes off the bench at Cal Poly.
VAMOS VARGAS
Junior Val Vargas has either scored or assisted on the game-winning goal in four of the Bruins' last seven victories. She accounted for the Bruins' lone goals in their 1-0 wins over Rutgers Sept. 25 and at Michigan Sept. 21 and assisted on the game-winners vs. Maryland on Sept. 28 and vs. Nebraska on Oct. 19. Vargas' last three goals scored for UCLA have been game-winners, two of them coming against Rutgers, in the 2024 Big Ten Championship game and at home on Sept. 25. She ranks third on the team with three assists and seven points.
IMPACT TRANSFERS
UCLA welcomed two experienced transfers to the squad in 2025 - defender Jennie Immethun and forward Oruha Hayashi. Immethun comes to UCLA from TCU, where she earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2024. She started 20 games in 2024 while helping the Big 12 champions record seven shutouts, and in 2023, she started in 10 games. Hayashi joined the Bruins after two years at Iowa Western, where she twice won the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Year for Junior College Division 1. Hayashi, who scored 25 goals in 2024 and 19 in 2023, was selected the 2024-25 Betty Jo Graber NJCAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Both have made big impacts on their new team, as Immethun was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Bruins record a shutout in the season opener. She leads UCLA in minutes played with 1782 and has two goal line saves while leading a Bruin defense that has allowed just nine goals all year and holds a 0.45 goals against average. Hayashi has played in 19 games and has 14 starts. She scored a goal in the Bruins' exhibition win over LMU and netted her first official goal as a Bruin in the 2-0 win over Long Beach State and her first assist on UCLA's final goal in the 2-0 win over Stanford. She added another assist on the game-tying goal at Michigan State and assisted on the game-winner against Iowa. She ranks second on the team in assists with five and third in scoring with seven points.
FRESH CLASS
The Bruins have a dynamic freshman class, highlighted by U.S. Youth National Team players Sofia Atehortua, Meila Brewer, Cassidy Doogan, Daphne Nakfoor, Leena Powell and Grace Shank, and Egyptian Youth National Team player Laila Edris. Powell played in the 2025 U-20 Concacaf Championships, and Brewer helped lead the U-17s to the 4 Nations Tournament title this summer and played in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in the fall. Also joining UCLA in 2025 were freshmen Payten Cooper, Jordyn Dunn, Siena Meyer and Julia Molnar. All 11 freshmen saw action in the Bruins' exhibition against LMU, and all but Dunn has seen action this season. Three freshmen have started in 10 or more games - Nakfoor with 19, Powell with 15, and Shank with 14. Cooper, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Sept. 2, ranks third on the team with three goals and seven points. Shank, a Big Ten All-Freshman selection and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 21, has three points and netted her first career goal on Oct. 16 vs. Iowa. Molnar assisted on Shank's goal for her first collegiate point. Powell is the fourth freshman to score a point, as she assisted Cooper on the game-winner against Long Beach State. Nakfoor, a Big Ten All-Freshman selection and the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week on Sept. 9, ranks sixth in the nation with a 0.52 goals against average and has six solo and five shared shutouts.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's SoccerHighlights - UCLA W. Soccer vs. Pepperdine (Nov. 15, 2025)
Sunday, November 16
Highlights - UCLA W. Soccer vs. Penn State (Nov. 1, 2025)
Saturday, November 01
Highlights - UCLA W. Soccer vs. Nebraska (Oct. 19, 2025)
Sunday, October 19
Highlights - UCLA W. Soccer vs. Iowa (Oct. 16, 2025)
Friday, October 17