COLLEGE NOTEBOOK: UCLA FULL STRENGTH AFTER U-20 TOURNEY.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Staff Writer

Officially, UCLA's women's soccer team opened its season two weeks ago at Penn State as the country's top-ranked team. But the squad that took the field that day wasn't the team most pollsters had in mind when they placed the Bruins atop three of four national rankings.

Five of the Bruins' top players -- Danesha Adams, Valerie Henderson, Erin Hardy, Lauren Cheney and Tina DiMartino -- were in Russia playing for the U.S. under-20 national team, which finished fourth at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship.

They're finally back.

``We're obviously excited the five are back,'' UCLA coach Jillian Ellis said. ``We don't have a whole lot of time to integrate them. Hopefully, we can get them in and start developing chemistry quickly.''

The timing couldn't be better. No. 5 UCLA (3-1-0) stages its annual Women's Cup, with No. 3 Santa Clara (3-1-0), No. 4 Texas A&M (3-0-1) and No. 12 Connecticut (2-1-1) in doubleheaders Friday and Sunday.

The Bruins take on Texas A&M, led by All-America forward Ashlee Pistorius, on Friday at 7 p.m. and UConn on Sunday at 2 p.m. Friday's game will air on a delayed basis on Fox Sports Net, and Sunday's will be shown live on ESPNU.

UCLA has had some tough matches against Texas A&M. The Aggies eliminated the Bruins from the 2002 NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks following a 0-0 draw in which UCLA outshot its foe 21-0. The Bruins got a measure of revenge in 2004, beating Spisak and the Aggies 1-0 in College Station, Texas.

Maxwell joins Matadors: Cal State Northridge hired former Louisiana Tech and Washington Mystics standout Monica Maxwell as an assistant women's basketball coach. Maxwell comes to the Matadors after spending last season as an assistant coach at Tulane.

Maxwell was a four-year letterwinner (1995-99) at Louisiana Tech and is a member of the Lady Techsters' 1,000-point club and Hall of Fame. She played five seasons in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever.

Paradise Island: UCLA senior middle blocker Nana Meriwether was the Pac-10 and national Player of the Week following her MVP performance at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic in Honolulu. UCLA (6-0) swept Colorado, then-No. 5 Florida and then-No. 7 Hawaii. The Bruins climbed from 10th to third in the AVCA poll this week.

Also: USC's women's volleyball team has handed the reigns of its offense to freshman setter Taylor Carico. The standout from Mira Costa High of Manhattan Beach has 184 assists in six matches, and the 10th-ranked Trojans are 6-0, with wins over then-No. 11 Tennessee and then-No. 24 Utah. ... UCLA's and Cal State Northridge's men's soccer teams play this weekend at the New Mexico Invitational in Albuquerque. The Bruins face the host Lobos on Friday, and the Matadors get a rematch with New Mexico on Sunday. New Mexico beat CSUN in overtime in last year's NCAA sweet 16 en route to its first title-game appearance, but it returned just five starters.

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UCLA's Tina DiMartino, left, played in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship.

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