This post was updated Oct. 15 at 10:40 p.m.
Blue-ribboned medals adorning players’ necks, monogrammed hats atop carefully chosen gameday hairstyles and a glass and metallic trophy lifted into the air.
That is the scene that awaits one victorious team at the end of the road to a Big Ten title, a path that gets shorter for the Bruins each week.
No. 11 UCLA women’s soccer (10-3-1, 7-1-0 Big Ten) will face No. 14 Washington (11-1-2, 6-1-1) on Friday at Wallis Annenberg Stadium for a showdown between two of the conference’s top teams.
“If we want to win the league, we have to win every game,” said coach Gof Boyoko.
The Bruins enter Friday’s game with a six-game win streak, the longest in the Big Ten. They are tied with Ohio State for first in conference standings but boast a head-to-head advantage over the Buckeyes after a 1-0 win over them Sept. 17.
Washington, on the other hand, is tied with Purdue for second in the rankings. It has been on a win streak of its own – three games to be exact – since falling to then-No. 2 Michigan State on Sept. 27.
As the reigning conference champions, the Huskies know what it takes to reach a Big Ten tournament final. And they have the roster firepower to make a case for a repeat run, especially in their backline, which features two Big Ten Defensive Players of the Week in Maylen Montoya and Maya Loudd.
“This game is going to be our toughest game by far,” said junior forward Sammy Sanchez. “But obviously we have several days to prepare, and with those several days, we’re going to keep working and just keep focusing on the little things.”
UCLA suffered a major setback Oct. 8 when sophomore goalkeeper Daphne Nakfoor was carted off the field mid-game versus Indiana after suffering a knee injury. Nakfoor helped forge a five-game shutout streak through that matchup, including denying then-No. 5 Ohio State access to the scoreboard in UCLA’s upset win.
Junior Mariangela Medina has since taken Nakfoor’s place in the net, and in her third appearance of the season Sunday against Illinois she recorded one save while conceding one goal. Medina showed she was unafraid to hold an aggressive line in the game against the Fighting Illini, venturing outside the 18-yard box on a play in the second half before tackling an opposing player in what was ultimately ruled not a foul.
While the Bruins lost their shutout streak Sunday, senior forward Oruha Hayashi’s second brace of the season kept the team’s win streak intact. Hayashi earned the Bruins’ first Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season for her efforts.
Forwards junior Kara Croone and sophomore Leena Powell join Hayashi as the leaders of UCLA’s offensive efforts. Combined, the trio has 15 goals on the year.
Washington’s attack is led by forward Alex Buck and midfielder Jadyn Holdenried, who co-lead the team with four goals apiece. Holdenried has taken 37 shots across the 2026 campaign and will likely continue her offensive barrage at Wallis Annenberg on Friday in what could be the first real test in goal for Medina, who faced just four total shots from Illinois.
Husky returners Buck and Holdenried will be familiar faces for a lot of the Bruins, who suffered a 1-0 loss to Washington in Seattle last season.
“We lost (to) Washington last year, and after that, we are kind of getting down the rankings,” Hayashi said. “So this one … is very important to win, and then we can win the conference.”
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