M. soccer: Soccer focuses on NCAAs

With its third consecutive Pac-10 title in hand, the UCLA
men’s soccer team has quickly begun to zero in on its next
task, securing a high ranking in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“That is our main goal,” freshman defender Marvell
Wynne said. “We had a couple of goals throughout the year,
the Pac-10 being one of them and getting a high seed for the
tournament being another.” “If we can get a top-four
seed, we will be very happy. That was our main goal, and hopefully
we’ll get it.” UCLA can help its cause when they face
off at home against San Diego (7-8-3) on Thursday and UC Davis
(5-9-2) on Saturday. San Diego’s win over then-No. 19 San
Francisco is the only win over a ranked team by either of the
Bruins’ opponents this week. With the final rankings
announced on Nov. 15, the fourth-ranked Bruins (11-3-2, 6-2-0) are
fully aware of the implications of these seemingly mundane games.
“These two games cannot be taken lightly at all because
it’s going to be huge for our rankings,” sophomore
midfielder Benny Feilhaber said. “Since we want that
homefield advantage during the playoffs, we got to win these next
two games.” After the Bruins’ roller-coaster last
weekend, which included avenging a loss to Washington but then
losing to lowly Oregon State, the Bruins hope to regain the
stability that has, for the most part, characterized their season.
Riding a five-game winning streak into the Oregon State game, the
Beavers surprised a Bruin squad still reveling in clinching the
Pac-10 two days earlier. “(The loss to Oregon state) is going
to be huge because we saw that we can’t take any team for
granted,” Feilhaber said. “We’ll make sure to
remember that game in the playoffs so we won’t lose another
game.”

MORE RECOGNITION: Benny Feilhaber was named
Pac-10 Player of the Week on Monday. He scored the game-winning
goal against Washington to secure the Pac-10 title for the
Bruins.

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