SAN DIEGO “”mdash; Midfielder Sal Zizzo seems to be a part of
every play. The team assist leader helped lift No. 16 UCLA
men’s soccer to a 2-1 victory over No. 22 San Diego State,
and into a first-place tie with Stanford in the Pac-10, with
Zizzo’s seventh assist of the year.
Zizzo raced past an Aztec defender down the left sideline and
found David Estrada alone in front of the goal, who put UCLA up 1-0
in the 34th minute with his third goal of the season.
“Sal beats his defenders with speed,” Estrada said.
“I knew he was probably gonna cross it. I was just there to
tap it in. It was mostly his goal.”
Coach Jorge Salcedo appreciates the sophomore, who has helped
his team find the back of the net without one true go-to
striker.
“Sal is a player that teams try to key on,” Salcedo
said. “It just shows you his pace and his ability that even
though he has three guys around him he still creates opportunities
for our team.”
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The former-first-place Aztecs took a hit when reigning Pac-10
Player of the Week Raul Bautista got his second yellow card of the
match and was ejected in the 42nd minute, forcing his team to play
a man down for the rest of the match.
But the Aztecs had been used to going with 10 men, doing it
against Washington on Oct. 1 and winning, 1-0.
“We talked about it at half,” Salcedo said.
“How they would come out with more energy, more desire. A
team with 10 men, everybody works a little bit harder because they
know they have to do more to compensate for being a man
down.”
But it was the Bruins who came out after the half and scored
first. With freshman Kyle Nakazawa and senior Kiel McClung forcing
the issue in front of San Diego State’s net, the Aztecs
suffered a fatal error with an own goal that gave the Bruins a 2-0
advantage in the 52nd minute.
The game was far from over though, with Aztec forward Andrew
DiCicco scoring in the 56th minute to narrow the gap to 2-1.
From that point on it was a duel of goalkeepers, with
UCLA’s Eric Reed making some diving stops to preserve the
lead, and San Diego State’s Tally Hall making some strong
saves of his own to keep his team in the game. Reed finished with
four saves.
UCLA’s defense came up big with clearances late in the
second half, and with an extra man the Bruins were able to control
the ball and the tempo of the game.
With the three points for the win, UCLA is tied with Stanford
with 10 points. The teams played to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 24 in Palo
Alto, and will meet again in Los Angeles on Oct. 27.
“It feels very good (to be tied for first),” Zizzo
said. “When all the injuries were going down it was rough,
but we’ve just persevered through it.”
UCLA will have to do a little bit more persevering, as sophomore
defender Brad Rusin went down with a separated shoulder and will be
out for an undisclosed amount of time.
The Bruins will go on the road again, heading to Oregon State on
Oct. 20 and to Washington on Oct. 22.