COLLEGE SOCCER: UCLA IS DOUBLE TOUGH; WOMEN'S TEAM SHUTS OUT USC; MEN WIN DIVISION TITLE IN OT.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

UCLA was not the place to be Sunday for visitors in search of championships.

The UCLA women's soccer team prevented USC from clinching the Pacific-10 title by beating the Women of Troy 3-0. Then in the second half of the doubleheader at North Athletic Field, Sasha Victorine scored in the 11th minute of overtime to give the Bruins' men a 2-1 victory against Cal State Fullerton in a game to decide the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Pacific Division championship in front of an announced crowd of 2,962.

By beating the Titans (16-1, 7-0) for the first time since 1996, UCLA (14-5, 5-2) earned a berth in Wednesday's MPSF final against Washington, with the winner advancing to a Nov. 14 NCAA play-in.

The UCLA women (14-4-1, 6-2-1) finished third in the conference behind Stanford and USC but solidified their playoff hopes with the win over the Women of Troy (14-5-0, 7-2), who entered the game tied for the Pac-10 lead. UCLA and USC both received byes for the first round of the playoffs, which start Wednesday.

``It's awesome for us,'' Bruins forward Staci Duncan said. ``We hadn't been playing well at all. I guess you have ups and downs in every season, but we had been down. We were worried. This is real big for us.''

Duncan had several scoring opportunities and provided one of the biggest plays of the women's game. Following a USC corner kick, UCLA's Venus James cleared the ball out to Duncan, who dribbled the length of the field, beating two defenders and going one on one with USC goalkeeper Shaelyn Fernandes to score in the 54th minute for a 2-0 lead.

Tracey Milburn assisted Lauren Emblem for the Bruins' first goal and Krista Boling's header on a corner kick in the 77th minute provided the final score.

UCLA outshot USC 10-3. Bruins goalkeeper CiCi Peterson did not have to make a save the entire first half as the UCLA defenders, who switched from a man-to-man to zone defense up the middle for the game, dominated the Women of Troy.

The men's game featured a strong defensive showing by both sides.

UCLA's Scot Thompson headed in a corner kick in the 68th minute for the game's first goal. Less than two minutes later, Ricky Melendez took a pass from Duncan Oughton and scored from 10 yards out to tie the contest. When neither team scored again during regulation, the game went to sudden-death overtime, where Victorine slipped the ball under Titans goalkeeper Scott Alexander and into the corner of the net amid a cluster of players.

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PHOTO Tracey Milburn, left, who assisted on the first goal for the UCLA women, battles with USC's Erin Reed.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer