CARLISLE, Pa. — Player of the Game Matty Winters (Jr., Malibu, Calif.) scored five times as No. 5-ranked/No. 1 position/Pacific Coast Division Champion the University of California-Los Angeles knocked off Mid-Atlantic Division runner-up/No. 16 position the University of Pittsburgh, 20-1, in the opening game of the 2026 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the Carlisle Family YMCA Aquatic Center.
The victory advances UCLA into the tournament quarterfinals where the Bruins will awake from hibernation for a 9:00 a.m. Eastern game on Saturday, April 18, against the winner of a first round game matching No. 9/No. 8 position/Texas Division Champion the University of Texas and No. 2(T)/No. 9 position/Sierra Pacific Division Champion the University of California.
Pitt – which can not finish higher than ninth place in the final 16-team championship due to its setback against UCLA – slips into the consolation side of the bracket and will square-off with the fallen from the Longhorns-Golden Bears opening round throwdown at 9:55 p.m. this evening.
UCLA – which previously finished second (2024), fifth (2010), sixth (2008), seventh (2011) and ninth (2009, 2023) at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship – put the contest away in short order as Shara Sutaria (So., Los Altos, Calif.) (6:13), Winters (5:44), Natasha Gerhardstein (Sr., London, U.K.) (5:01) and Jordyn Nishimura (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii) (3:58) ticked off back-to-back-to-back-to-back first quarter strikes in building a 4-0 Bruins’ margin.
The lead continued to grow over the remainder of the first half as Winters (6:24, man-up; 4:53), Samantha DiMarco (Jr., Eugene, Ore.) (5:58, man-up), Helene MacBeth (Jr., San Clemente, Calif.) (5:30, penalty shot), Serena Wang (Fr., Irvine, Calif.) (3:21) and Lindsey Hughes (Jr., San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) combined for a 6-0 second quarter surge to push ahead 10-0 at the contest’s midway point.
Abby Brooks (Sr., Mill Valley, Calif.) (6:46), Anikka Kuhm (Sr., Santa Barbara, Calif.) (4:18), Sutaria (3:43), MacBeth (2:22) and Winters (43 seconds) commenced the third quarter with 5-0 outburst to acquire a 15-0 margin in the waning seconds of the frame.
Pittsburgh put up a point with 24 ticks left on the third quarter’s clock as Madalynn Buss (So., York, Pa.) broke up the shutout try by UCLA netminder Charlie Flores (Jr., Malibu, Calif.) to shrink the Bruins’ lead to 15-1 after 21 minutes of action.
The remainder of the contest was the den of UCLA as Liz Williams (Jr., Pleasanton, Calif.) (7:03), Gerhardsein (6:43), Jonna-Lee Bush (So., Hanford, Calif.) (5:42), Winters (4:08) and Kuhm (3:33) finished out the clash with a 5-0 fourth quarter outburst for the 20-1 final score.
For Pittsburgh, which holds prior ninth (2017) and 12th (2016) place marks at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship, Buss accounted for the Panthers’ lone strike with goalkeeper Hannah Hosterman (Fr., Harleysville, Pa.) racking up six saves.
Winters (five), Sutaria (two), Kuhm (two), Gerhardstein (two); MacBeth (two), Williams, DiMarco; Nishimura; Hughes, Wang, Bush and Brooks combined for UCLA’s 20 goals to support a 10 save performance by goalkeeper Charlie Flores (Jr., Malibu, Calif.).
The University of Pittsburgh’s Rachel Le (#9) & the University of California-Los Angeles’ Jordyn Nishimura (#10) battle
University of California-Los Angeles’ Jonna-Lee Bush (#5) & the University of Pittsburgh’s Rachel Le (#9)
University of Pittsburgh’s Hannah Hosterman (#1)
The University of California-Los Angeles’ Matty Winters (#16) defends the University of Pittsburgh’s Brenna Mancini (#14)
