Decades ago, when some sportswriter on a slow news day first dubbed the Pac-10 the “Conference of Champions,” he was probably referring to women’s soccer. To play a season in the Pac-10, a team must run a gauntlet of tough teams. In fact, eight of the conference’s teams have been ranked in the top 25 at some point this season, and four have ranked in the top 10. What this means is that in this conference, there are no weeks off. Every weekend, you will face at least one ranked opponent — probably two. Washington coach Lesle Gallimore wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There are good players out in the rest of the country, but they aren’t any better than what we see every weekend,” Gallimore said. “You see the best of the best, five weeks in a row. If you can have success against them and play well against those types of players, it bodes pretty well for you. It sets you up nicely for the postseason.”

Washington may have saved its toughest weekend for last. Today, the Huskies will take on No. 3 UCLA, and on Sunday they play No. 21 USC. These will be the Huskies’ last two games of the regular season and will be crucial leading into the postseason. Washington currently sits sixth in the conference, and a good showing against a pair of top opponents would look great to the selection committee.

The Huskies’ ace this year has been their defense, and they will rely on it heavily against a couple of high-powered offenses this week. However, the Huskies have been allowing more shots in the last couple of weekends. It isn’t a problem with schemes, though, and the Husky players realize they need to focus.

“We’re just going to try to keep on doing what we’ve been doing all year, and that’s focus on team defending,” junior defender Kendyl Pele said. “We’re not going to change [our defense] looking at these two teams. Once you get into Pac-10 play, it’s harder to hold them off, but defensively we’re solid, and we just need to focus on keeping goals out of the net.”

An inevitable side story to the last home games of the season is senior night, when Washington’s seniors will play their final game at home. The Huskies have six seniors this season, and the underclassmen hope to send Chelsea Bumbaugh, Lindsey Kasser, Alex Kirk, Nikki Murray, Veronica Perez and Alex Phillips out in style. However, the players and the coaches realize the importance of not letting their emotions get the best of them.

“It’s probably going to be an emotional time,” Pele said. “But we’re hoping this isn’t going to be our last game, so we don’t consider it the last game for our seniors.”

Gallimore thinks her players will be fine.

“As a team and as a coach, we don’t like to get too high or too low,” Gallimore said. “You just want to go about your business. Hopefully for them, it’s been a good season, and finishing at home is always more fun than finishing on the road. Hopefully they come out and put on a good show for some of the best fans in the Pac-10 and the people of Seattle who have supported them in their time here.”

Reach reporter Jacob Thorpe at sports@dailyuw.com.