After missing all of last year with a knee injury and the first seven matches of this season while representing Canada at the Women’s World Cup in China, UCLA forward Kara Lang celebrated her return to college soccer with two goals in the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over No. 2 Portland Friday night at Drake Stadium.
Lang scored little more than eight minutes into the match with a left-footed shot from about 30 yards out and won the game with a golden goal, blasting a bouncing shot toward that bounced up and off Pilot keeper Kelsey Davis‘ right arm before dribbling into the goal.
Lang’s last college game was against Portland in the 2005 Women’s College Cup final. A knee injury suffered in the offseason kept her out of the 2006 season.
Portland had tied the game with five minutes remaining when it took advantage of a quick free kick to surprise the UCLA and score when Natalie Budge tucked the ball into the right corner, just past a diving Valerie Henderson.
The game marked a battle of Canada World Cup players — Lang and UP’s redshirt freshman Sophie Schmidt — and Henderson and Davis in goal — both former teammates with the U.S. U-20s and at UCLA until Davis moved north to Portland.
Having knocked off No. 2 Portland, UCLA has a chance to take down No. 1 Santa Clara next Sunday.
For Portland, its trip to Los Angeles was an entire loss. The Pilots also fell to USC, 2-1, on Sunday.
GAME SUMMARY:
Sept. 28 in Los Angeles
UCLA 2 Portland 1. Goals: Lang (Cheney) 9, Lang (Adams) 97; Budge (Enyeart) 85.
UCLA — Henderson, Barnes, Wilmoth, Cook, DiMartino, M.Zerboni, Adams, Calvert, Wright, Cheney, Lang. Subs: B.Zerboni, Mac Kechnie, Larsen, Wall.
Portland — Davis, Cronkite, Tsao, Scifo, Michaelson, Woznuk, Reed, Winters, Budge, Enyeart, Chandhoke. Sub: Schmidt.
Referee: Miguel Chicas.
Att.: 1,279.