`NGP' LIFTS UCLA WIN OVER USC ADVANCES BRUINS UCLA 3, USC 0.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

UCLA midfielder Breana Boling scored a goal two minutes into Saturday's NCAA second-round women's soccer match against USC, and her coach smiled and cheered. And secretly cringed.

``It makes me nervous to score that early,'' coach Jillian Ellis said, ``because then we become the hunted. I kind of had my tongue in my throat for a little while.''

Ellis should know her team better than to fear an early goal, or any goal at all, because the Bruins rarely need more than one. UCLA also got second-half goals from Sarah-Gayle Swanson and Venus James in a 3-0 victory over the

Trojans in front of 1,104 at UCLA's Drake Stadium.

The sixth-seeded Bruins improved to 16-3-1 and advanced to face the winner of today's Texas A&M-Marquette match. The third-round match will likely be held next Sunday at UCLA, and whoever the Bruins face will have to contend with a suffocating defense that allowed the Trojans just four shots on goal.

``We have a little thing we call `NGP' - the No-Goal Patrol,'' defender Karissa Hampton said. ``We know that if one of us gets beat, the other has to be there to cover for her.''

UCLA's defense didn't get beat often, and even though the early goal may have made their coach nervous, it seemed to embolden the Bruins.

Two minutes into the match, Boling received a pass near the right corner of the penalty box. She took two or three steps and fired a shot into the top-right corner of the net, well out of the reach of diving USC goalkeeper Lauren Arase.

``We came out flat. Why? I don't know,'' USC coach Jim Millinder said. ``We talked about playing well early, and I thought that if anything good happened early, it would happen to us.''

Doses of good news were few and far between for the Trojans (14-6-2), who tied the Bruins 1-1 in their only regular-season meeting. UCLA dominated the midfield with superior strength, and the Trojans also struggled to keep up with the quicker Bruins, who seemed to swarm to the ball on defense whenever a Trojans' midfielder touched it.

USC didn't record its first shot until 22 minutes into the match, when reserve forward Brittany Savelkoul headed a ball right into the hands of UCLA goalkeeper CiCi Peterson.

``I just wanted to get them to halftime,'' Ellis said. ``I thought that if we could get them in and talk to them, they would do well in the second half.''

UCLA's Stephanie Rigamat had two excellent scoring chances two minutes into the second half, but the Trojans regrouped and began to play even with the Bruins until they were felled by an unfortunate sequence of events.

A pass by Jessica Edwards in the 58th minute seemed as though it would create a scoring chance for the Trojans, but it was ruled offside. One minute later, Rigamat took a hard shot from the right side of the net, and the deflection bounced right to Swanson, who scored easily for a 2-0 lead.

The Trojans appeared to cut the lead to one in the 63rd minute, when Christy Callier knocked in a loose ball in front of the net, but the linesman ruled the Trojans were offside during a free kick that led to the scramble.

``It looked onside to me, but the official was in a better position to see,'' Millinder said. ``If you're down two and you score the next goal, you're still in it, so that could have put us right back in it.''

UCLA kept pushing forward and scored its third goal in the 71st minute, when James dribbled in, stopped at the left corner of the goal box, faked out her defender with a quick move to her right and fired a shot to the far post.

``(The Bruins) have what it takes to go deep in the tournament,'' Millinder said.

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Photo: UCLA midfielder Venus James runs over USC fullback Becky Miller during the Bruins' 3-0 victory Saturday in the second round of the NCAA championships.

John Kennedy/Special to the Daily News