Pacific Palisades, Calif. (April 16, 2008) – The Pali Blues have now won four straight games as they beat UCLA 1-0 in front of about 750 onlookers Wednesday night. It was the first home game of their five game preseason series. The Blues decided to play this match in order to raise money for the Painted Turtle, presenting the organization with a $10,000 check during halftime.

The Blues had a few chances during the first half, including a free kick from Danesha Adams that the UCLA keeper, Ashley Thompson, struggled to save. The team didn’t break through until the 49th minute of play as Rosie Tantillo finally beat the UCLA keeper. Tantillo has scored five goals during this preseason campaign.

There were some close calls near the end of the second half. Midfielder Leah Tapscott had a great shot that hit the crossbar in the 79th minute. The following minute, Tantillo tested the keeper again, who scrambled to save the ball on the goal line.

The Blues play their final preseason game this Saturday, April 19, at Loyola Marymount University at 11am.

Here’s what Coach Naimo had to say about the match:

“As always the bright spot were our backs, they were fantastic. With that said- to UCLA’s credit, we were very average this game and learned some potential weaknesses. This is what preseason is all about but as a staff there is some disappointment. UCLA played high pressure, and we did a poor job of breaking it and slowing things down. Conversely, we felt we could have also discouraged pressure by playing big early on occasion. We did neither; we lived in the middle all night."

Click here for the game report