With two and a half minutes left on the clock, a New Mexico shot
went sailing over the Bruin crossbar, and the crowd held its breath
for a split second before realizing it would never hit the net.
That shot summarized the entirety of the men’s soccer
match at Drake Stadium Thursday night. When all was said and done,
No. 1 UCLA had outshot New Mexico 19-8 in the Bruins’ 1-0
victory.
“We couldn’t finish tonight,” said senior
forward Matt Taylor. “We deserved the victory, and they
didn’t pose a threat, but sometimes you have your off
days.”
At least the off days still end with a UCLA victory. The Bruins
(8-1-0) kept the ball on New Mexico’s side for a majority of
the first half, but an efficient Lobos (3-4-3) defense rendered the
Bruin’s offense null.
New Mexico goalkeeper Andrew Weber was forced to stay on his
toes as the Bruins sent a barrage of shots his way. Unfortunately,
almost all of them sailed far over the woodwork. Twenty minutes
into the match, freshman forward Chad Barrett launched what looked
to be a goal, but after ricocheting off Weber’s chest for his
fifth save of the night, it too followed the rest towards the dark
sky above the net. A good look by Leonard Griffin with 35 minutes
on the clock also sailed over the goal and left the game scoreless
at the half.
Senior forward Cliff McKinley was probably lucky to avoid a red
card after a collision with New Mexico defender Brandon Moss early
in the second half. After rising, McKinley, who was shown a yellow
instead, roughly pushed Moss back to the turf, apparently over the
original run-in.
“There were a number of soft fouls that occurred
tonight,” Taylor said. “The ref was tired of it, and so
he was trying to take control.”
The empty scoreboard was still intact at the hour marker, when
McKinley’s shot again sailed over an empty goal.
Finally, 70 minutes into the match, McKinley assisted on a
beautiful shot by Taylor, which Taylor maneuvered past Lobos
defenders and Weber to make good.
“That was one of the best goals I’ve seen in a long
time,” said head coach Tom Fitzgerald. “Matt finished
with great finesse.”
Looking towards Sunday’s road game against conference foe
Fresno State (3-7 overall, 0-2 Pac-10), Thursday night’s
victory serves as a catalyst for improvement.
“The guys realize they didn’t play all that
well,” said Fitzgerald. We need to go to Fresno to a tough
stadium and make more of these kind of chances we get.”