The last thing the UCLA men’s soccer team would have
wanted before tonight’s match-up against the No. 14 UC Santa
Barbara Gauchos was another rainy day. After taking Monday off to
recover from an exhausting weekend consisting of two
double-overtime games, the Bruins’ practice was rained out
Tuesday, forcing them to resort to indoor conditioning. Coach Jorge
Salcedo, however, made the best use of his time on Tuesday by also
reviewing game film from Sunday’s scoreless tie against San
Diego State with the team. “When you see (the game) on tape,
a player remembers for the most part how they perform and their
individual plays. Hopefully it’s a teaching lesson as to what
they can do differently,” he said. Over the past few days,
Salcedo has stressed several times to his team how important it is
that they complete on opportunities that are created for them to
score. “Without a doubt, we need to work on finishing,”
Salcedo said. “We had some opportunities to score goals, and
unfortunately I think we either made the wrong choices or we
didn’t execute the way we should have.” The players
have the same attitude coming into tonight’s game against the
Gauchos, but are optimistic. “I think things are coming along
pretty well,” said junior defender Brandon Owens. Things will
need to continue to come along well for the Bruins to defeat the
team that is ranked just one spot below them in the Far West NSCAA
poll. The last time the two teams played was in 2001, which
resulted in a scoreless tie, an outcome with which the Bruins have
become quite familiar. In fact, the last time the Gauchos were able
to muster a win against UCLA was over 20 years ago, in 1982, at
UCSB’s Harder Stadium. But this year, things look to be
different, as the Bruins have found themselves in an offensive
slump. Meanwhile, the Gauchos have not lost a match in their last
five played. “They’re a good team, from their
goalkeeper all the way to their forwards,” Salcedo said.
“They have some speed up top. They’re very dynamic up
front because all three of their forwards bring something different
to the game,” he said. Junior goalkeeper Eric Reed will be
looking to record his ninth shutout of the season tonight against
the Gaucho attack, something that Salcedo also hopes will happen.
“He’s had a very good season thus far, but the thing I
like about Eric is that he takes things game by game and he
doesn’t look far ahead and he doesn’t look too far in
the past,” Salcedo said. Tonight’s contest, along with
the rest of the games played this weekend among competing Pac-10
teams, will help paint this year’s postseason picture.
Salcedo hopes the picture has UCLA in the forefront ““
something that will greatly boost the Bruins’ chances at the
end of the regular season. “At the end of every year,
there’s a sense of urgency that the team needs to have,
because tonight’s game is a big game in terms of what is
going to happen in the playoff picture,” Salcedo said.
NIGHT OWLS: The Bruins will be playing tonight
at 7 p.m. on Marshall Field in Drake Stadium. Night matches have
been when the Bruins have performed best and when they have enjoyed
playing most. “They love playing at night,” Salcedo
said. “As a player, you should want to play at night, 2 in
the morning, or 6 in the morning. “We have had very good
performances during our night games, and I expect the same on
Thursday. The guys are going to be excited; they like the
atmosphere at night. If that’s what it takes to win,
I’ll schedule all our games at night.”