SHOWING THE HEART OF A WINNER UCLA'S CHENEY A STAR DESPITE EARLY SETBACKS.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Staff Writer

It's hard to say exactly when Rita Cheney knew what kind of child her youngest daughter, Lauren, was, but it probably wasn't long after she saw the disgusted look on her three-year-old's face as a group of nurses tried to put a diaper on the already-potty- trained Lauren following open-heart surgery.

``She didn't like that at all,'' Rita Cheney said. ``After the surgery, she wanted to get out of that hospital as fast as she could. ... Actually, we had to hide her bike and squirt guns when she got home because there was no way she would stay inside and let her sutures heal for as long as the doctors said to.''

Then again, maybe it was in middle school, when Lauren was so small and spindly the only pants she could wear were spandex leggings.

``Her legs were so skinny, even those fell down,'' Rita Cheney said. ``But she never let it hold her back. She did everything her older brother did. She played football, basketball, soccer. She was always a fighter.''

To anyone who has seen Cheney recently, all of this -- and none of it -- should come as a surprise.

UCLA's standout freshman forward has taken the college soccer world by storm with a unique blend of power, physical play, finesse and skill. She's a solid 5-foot-10 force you wouldn't want to go up for a header against, and who has the technical skill to slip deft passes past defenders or curl 18-foot free kicks past a goalie.

The remnants of that spindly legged, pale-faced kid who underwent open- heart surgery to repair a hole in her heart as a three-year-old are nowhere in sight, except for the long scar that runs from the top of her chest down to the middle of her abdomen. But the heart and that competitive spirit is still there, kicking and fighting and working harder than ever.

If there's a 50-50 ball, Cheney wins it. If there's an extra pass that needs to be made, Cheney sees it. If UCLA needs a goal, Cheney finds the back of the net.

``She's been told she can't or she won't a few times, and it just fuels her fire,'' UCLA coach Jillian Ellis said. ``And I really think that Lauren is still not near her peak. I mean even this season. She's still just getting comfortable after coming back from Russia.''

That's a bit of a scary thought.

Coming into this afternoon's match against USC, Cheney leads the Pac-10 in goals (10), points (20) and game-winning goals (5). That's after missing the first four matches of the season because she was playing for the United States at the Under-20 World Championships in Russia. Cheney has already been called in to three United States' national team training camps.

You might expect someone with such an extensive international resume to have led something of a charmed life. But Cheney had nothing of the sort.

She wasn't much of a name on the national scene until she was 17, when she helped the U.S. under-21 team to its seventh straight Nordic Cup in 2005. Before that, she was known mostly as a good player in and around her hometown of Indianapolis.

``With the regional teams, I always got cut. I even had a coach tell me one time that I'd just be a mediocre player so I shouldn't get my hope up too high for college,'' Cheney said. ``At my first national team camp, I had a roommate who was like, `Who are you? You've never been here before?'

``I was never like, `I'll show you someday.' That kind of stuff just made me work harder.''

One of her teammates on that Nordic Cup team was USC's Amy Rodriguez. At first, Cheney was a reserve. She got her chance midway through the tournament and never looked back.

``Lauren Cheney's a great girl,'' Rodriguez said. ``We have a lot of fun on and off the field. She's a great teammate to play with -- and horrible to play against.''

Of course, Rodriquez has only known Cheney as the tough, physical presence at the center of every attack that she is today. Against that image, it's hard to picture her as a sickly, skinny child.

To her mother, Rita, she'll always be the little girl who wouldn't sit still for anything or take no for an answer.

Cheney doesn't hide the scar on her chest. If she wears a short T-shirt, it'll peek through at the bottom and inevitably draw questions from friends and teammates.

``At first (the scar) bothered me. My mom even told me it was OK if I wanted to have plastic surgery to have it removed,'' Cheney said.

``But she also said to try and look at it like it was special and unique and I just kind of went with that.''

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UCLA freshman Lauren Cheney, right, leads the Pac-10 Conference in goals (10), points (20) and winning goals (five) despite missing the first four matches.

Edna T. Simpson/Staff Photographer

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NOT A BAD START...

- Ramona Shelburne