• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Photo

  Tracy Arkenberg

By Michelle Coppolella

Daily Bruin Reporter

In sports, they tell you it really doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you go out there and give it your all.

That’s all good and well for Little League and AYSO soccer, but when you step into the big leagues, it’s simple -- results matter, and they matter a lot. You want to be able to hold up that trophy or wear that ring, proud to know that your name will go down in the record books as a winner at least once.

But when your name goes in record books 13 times, you’re not only a winner – you’re a person who’s changed the sport’s history forever.

Former UCLA women’s soccer forward Traci Arkenberg did just that for UCLA, dominating UCLA’s offensive game from 1994-97.

Not only is Arkenberg the all-time UCLA leader in points, goals, game-winning goals, game-winning assists and shots, but in her senior year alone she was the UCLA Offensive MVP, UCLA Female Athlete of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year, Soccer News’ All-Far West Player of the Year, Soccer Buzz’s West Region Offensive Player of the Year, and First-Team All-American.

“My first team All-American honor has to be the most meaningful because it’s so hard to come by,” she said in a phone interview. “They can never take that away. A scoring title they can, but this they can’t.”

  Todd Warshaw/Allsport Former Bruin Tracy Arkenberg now plays for the San Diego Spirit. Arkenberg has undoubtedly made her mark on UCLA and she now hopes to make it in the Women’s United Soccer Association. In 2000, Arkenberg was selected in the seventh round, 50th overall of the WUSA draft and is now a starting forward for the San Diego Spirit at 25 years of age.

“Right now I’m exactly where I want to be,” she said. “The league we have now is so outstanding that the fact that I’m playing in the WUSA is such an accomplishment.”

Currently the third highest point scorer for the Spirit, Arkenberg proves she is a valuable asset to the squad. Before becoming a member of the Spirit, she played for Ajax of Southern California in the Women’s Premier Soccer League for three years, where she was awarded MVP of the WPSL in 1999 and was the top scorer of the league with six goals and two assists.

Arkenberg credits UCLA with her success in both the WUSA and the WPSL.

“I couldn’t have gotten here without UCLA, the support of the athletic department, the great coaching by (former Head Coach) Joy (Fawcett), and the team that surrounded me were all incredible.”

Arkenberg said that her best soccer moment was beating USC 3-2 for the 1996 Pac-10 title. What she modestly forgot to mention was that she scored the winning goal in that game to clinch the victory for UCLA.

“That was the first time women’s soccer really got recognition in Southern California,” she said. “We had over 2,000 people at that game and to play in front of the crowd at home against a school we hate so much made it amazing. I’ll never forget it.”

Neither UCLA nor its record books will ever be able to forget Arkenberg. Even today she continues to have ties to her alma mater. Not only does her sister Lindsay attend UCLA, but Arkenberg trains here for the off-season and regularly attends women’s soccer games.

“It’s great to see that the West Coast got on the map and that UCLA is now a powerhouse in women’s soccer,” she said.

The saying “those who can’t do, teach” clearly doesn’t apply to Arkenberg, who can “school” players both on and off the field. For the past three years, Arkenberg has been the head coach of the Palos Verdes Breakers, an under-12 girls soccer team.

Arkenberg received a sociology degree at UCLA, and she hopes to one day expand her teaching skills to the classroom as a second or third grade teacher.

Soccer has not only served as a means to play and coach -- it also has enabled her to meet her future husband. While at UCLA, Arkenberg routinely traveled to Santa Monica High School to coach the varsity girls soccer team. Her husband, Frank Gatell, was the varsity boys soccer coach and a Spanish teacher there. The two met on the field, adding a romantic twinge to her fairy tale career.

Within the next three or four years, Arkenberg hopes to start a family and eventually be the mother of two or three children. Understanding that doing so will ultimately interfere with soccer, Arkenberg was quick to note that being a mom doesn’t mean the end of her career.

“Women have children and then make it back to the sport,” she said. “Believe me, I’m looking forward to being a mother -- but I don’t plan on quitting soccer anytime soon.”