Bruins to find if Waves’ run will trickle

Both top-10 soccer teams, UCLA and Pepperdine prepare to battle it out

Published: Friday, September 30, 2005

The fourth-ranked UCLA women’s soccer team (9-1) will play its final non-conference match of the season Sunday when it travels to Malibu to take on No. 10 Pepperdine (8-0-1). The two teams met twice last season, with the Bruins winning each matchup 1-0. The second victory came in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The undefeated Waves have been impressive thus far this season, but UCLA will likely prove to be Pepperdine’s stiffest opponent to date. The Bruins are coming off a 5-0 drubbing of UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, and UCLA has won five straight matches by a combined score of 14-1 since losing 1-0 to No. 2 Penn State on Sept. 9. The Bruins are led in scoring by sophomore forward Danesha Adams, who has eight goals in 10 games. Talented freshman Kara Lang isn’t far behind, with five goals and three assists in eight matches. Lang has missed two of the Bruins’ matches because of Canadian national team duty. UCLA, who has conceded only three goals all season, opens up Pac-10 play Friday, Oct. 7 when USC visits Drake Stadium.

WELCOME TO WESTWOOD: Baseball coach John Savage was awaiting his highly touted recruiting class to begin class and officially enroll at UCLA. Coming off a dismal first season, Savage was able to recruit several top-ranked high school players. Knowing that his top recruits were drafted by professional organizations and could possibly sign with them at the 11th hour rather than attend UCLA, Savage openly welcomed 17 new players to campus. “We are very proud to finally see these young men step onto campus here at UCLA,” he said. “Now that school has begun and we’re all back together, we can’t wait to hit the field and start preparing for a successful 2006 campaign.”

BRUIN INVENTION: Blake Krikorian, a four-year men’s water polo player from 1986 to 1989 and the brother of current men’s and women’s water polo head coach Adam Krikorian, was featured in the Oct. 3 edition of Sports Illustrated for his international television-viewing invention. Blake and Jason Krikorian, both of whom are Adam’s brothers, are members of Slingbox Media Inc. which is the company that created the Slingbox – a device which allows you to watch your own television from a laptop anywhere in the world. The box, which is about the size of a brick, connects to a cable box and is then able to transmit the television signal to a PC laptop. “The Slingbox clearly defines a new era for television viewing,” Blake Krikorian said in a statement. “Our goal is to enhance the TV-viewing experience by allowing people easy access to their living room television content, no matter their location: around the house or around the world.” Blake Krikorian first tried the invention to watch the women’s water polo National Championship game last spring in Michigan. Krikorian wanted to see his brother’s team take on Stanford. The Slingbox worked, and Krikorian was able to watch the game from Singapore with no disruption.

NATIONAL ATTENTION: In the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated on Campus, UCLA athletics was ranked No. 23 in the country in all-around sports program during the fall season. According to the magazine, the sports staff compiled all the rankings given out in the seven fall sports and tallied up an overall score. However, the rankings are weighted, distributing more points to football than the other six sports. The poll also excluded any impact that men’s water polo might have because the sport does not release national rankings. Notre Dame was factored to be the No. 1 fall sports program. Other Pac-10 schools included in the “power poll” were Cal (No. 4), Stanford (No. 8), Arizona State (No. 18), and USC (No. 20). With reports from Bruin Sports senior staff.