Oruha Hayashi scored once at UCLA last year. On Sunday she scored both goals

Oruha Hayashi scored both goals Sunday at Wallis Annenberg Stadium, and UCLA beat Illinois 2–1. The first came in the 24th minute and the winner in the 77th, a sixth straight win that left the Bruins 10–3–1 and 7–1–0 in the Big Ten. On Tuesday the conference named her offensive player of the week, the first Big Ten weekly honor of her career. UCLA had not had an offensive player of the week since Sept. 24, 2024.

Both goals started with a corner from Grace Shank. In the 24th minute Shank played her in, Hayashi gave the ball back, and the return left her a shot from 16 yards. It deflected off the hands of Illinois goalkeeper Izzy Lee and went in. Four minutes later Emma Yee scored her first goal of the season and the game was tied. That was only the third goal UCLA had allowed in Big Ten play, and it ended a shutout that had run 560 minutes. In the second half UCLA had 15 shots and Illinois had one. Lee got a fingertip to a Kara Croone shot, Shank took the next corner quickly, and Hayashi hit a left-footed shot from the right side of the box, over Lee and into the top corner.

Thursday, in a 5–0 win over Indiana, she played the through ball for Croone’s second goal of the night. She leads UCLA with 14 points and is tied with Croone on six goals. The two against Illinois were her second brace in four games.

The other brace was Sept. 27 at Maryland, and UCLA called it her first in a Bruins shirt. Maryland went down to 10 players in the 70th minute. Hayashi scored on a leaping header just after 74 minutes, then finished a through ball from Shank in the 87th minute, past the charging goalkeeper. UCLA won 2–0.

At Oregon on Oct. 2 she played all 90 minutes and did not take a shot. With two minutes left she played Croone into the box. An Oregon player caught Croone’s leg, the penalty was called after a video review, and Croone scored the only goal. UCLA won 1–0.

The year before this one was quieter. In 2025 she started 15 of 20 games and finished second on the team with five assists. The goal, against Long Beach State, was her first in an NCAA game. She also assisted the winner against Iowa. At Iowa Western she had scored 44 times in 38 games. In 20 games as a Bruin she scored once. She has six this season, with four games left.

Before UCLA she was at Iowa Western, in Council Bluffs. As a freshman she had 19 goals and 19 assists, and the team won the 2023 NJCAA Division I championship. She was the tournament’s most valuable offensive player. The next year she started all 20 games, scored 25, and had 19 assists. That season ended in the national semifinals. In May 2025 the NJCAA gave her the Betty Jo Graber Award, its honor for the top female student-athlete. She had signed with UCLA in March.

She is from Toyooka, in Hyogo, and she played at Hinomoto High School. Friday is the last regular-season home game. Washington comes to Wallis Annenberg at 8 p.m. Pacific, on the Big Ten Network. UCLA and Ohio State are tied atop the conference on 21 points. Washington is two points back in the standings.