UCLA Women Trounced, 8-0, by Notre Dame

The best season in UCLA women’s soccer history came to an abrupt and eye-opening end Saturday when the Bruins were routed, 8-0, in the NCAA playoff quarterfinals by Notre Dame.

Adding insult to injury, the team’s flight from South Bend to Chicago was canceled and it had to make the trip by road in order to catch a plane back to Los Angeles.

UCLA, under Coach Joy Fawcett, came in with a 19-2 record and, for the first half at least, held its own. The Fighting Irish were ahead only 2-0 after 45 minutes.

In the second half, however, Notre Dame romped. Jenny Heft had a hat trick, scoring the first three goals as the Irish improved to 23-0-1. Also scoring were Monica Gerardo, Shannon Boxx, Kara Brown, Anne Makinen and Monica Gonzalez.

The Bruins, in their fifth season, end the year as Pacific 10 Conference champions. Fawcett, now 65-24-7 overall, was named Pac-10 coach of the year. Striker Traci Arkenberg scored 22 goals and was selected Pac-10 player of year.