If the UCLA men’s soccer team is to make a successful
postseason run, Kyle Nakazawa will be at the center.
In an exhibition against LMU on Sunday, the freshman midfielder
displayed just what had been anticipated since the announcement of
his arrival in Westwood.
Nakazawa provided UCLA, picked to win the Pac-10 and ranked as a
preseason No. 5, with an overwhelming presence at midfield against
LMU in the Bruins’ first exhibition game of the season. He
fulfilled his responsibility as the playmaker, setting up his
teammates on the attack and finding holes in the opposition’s
defense.
“That’s the way I play,” Nakazawa said.
“I like to get the ball and move it around.”
His effort in the 3-3 draw didn’t go unnoticed by UCLA
coach Jorge Salcedo, who has seen a great transformation in his
team since last year. The Bruins have been plagued with injuries
that haven’t seemed to stop. In the waning moments of the
exhibition matchup, freshman forward Robert Georgiefski came off
the field with what, according to Salcedo, appeared to be a torn
ACL. He joins defenders Brandon Owens, Edwidge Ligonde and Chance
Myers on the injured list.
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See more photos from the UCLA men’s soccer match with the LMU
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“We’ve had some tough luck,” Salcedo said.
“They were penciled in to be big contributors on our team so
it’s very unfortunate.”
Adding to the void on the field, Kamani Hill will not be playing
for the Bruins this season, as he is taking a quarter off for
personal reasons. However, the junior forward will return to UCLA
for the winter quarter of his junior year.
The absence of experienced veterans has led Salcedo to make use
of his freshman class, which has been touted as the nation’s
best. The Bruins played much of the game with ten freshmen on the
field at once.
UCLA was the first to get on the board, following an LMU own
goal after freshman Jason Leopoldo took a shot on goal in the
second half that came up short before deflecting off a defender.
Just thirty seconds later, Leopoldo was able to redeem himself on a
goal that gave the Bruins a two-goal lead.
“On the first one I was a bit anxious, but I didn’t
want that to happen again and I made sure to just put the second
one away,” Leopoldo said of his first career goal as a
Bruin.
Sensing the Bruin defense in a vulnerable position after putting
together back-to-back goals, the Lions did the same just three
minutes later, with the first goal coming off a successful penalty
kick by Adam Sloustcher. Shortly thereafter, Trini Gomez tied the
game with a header off a corner kick.
The Lions hadn’t finished, scoring yet another goal on a
set play when Brad Stisser’s penalty kick hit the post on its
way into the goal. The Bruins were able to equalize the score off a
Maxwell Griffin goal with just two minutes remaining.
“It’s always disappointing to go down like that
after getting ahead by two goals, but there are no doubts in our
minds that we can play.” Nakazawa said. “We’ve
got a lot of confidence heading into the season next
weekend.”