They remember last year. They remember the bye, the home-field
advantage and the expectations.
Members of the UCLA men’s soccer team also remember the
3-0 upset in their first game of the NCAA tournament by Southern
Methodist University that cut their season short.
“For the guys that were here last year, it’s right
up in the front of our minds,” goalkeeper Eric Reed said.
“It definitely set us back at the end of last year and
we’re looking for a bit of revenge, and a bit of saving
grace,” Reed said.
Tonight, in a second-round matchup against Harvard (14-4-0) at
Drake Stadium after a first-round bye, eighth-seeded UCLA (10-5-4)
will get a chance for a different result against a different
opponent.
The last time UCLA and Harvard played was before most of the
players on the field were born, with UCLA winning 2-0 at home in
1984.
With the Bruins starting a large number of freshman, the UCLA
team that will take the field tonight is a mixture of players who
were there last November and some who weren’t.
Still, the veterans on the team have set the tone for the
playoffs from the lessons they’ve learned.
“We’re favored (in the game) and we have home field
advantage, (but) obviously (last year) showed that you can’t
come out lightly to a team, and we have to have that attitude
(today),” freshman midfielder/forward Kyle Nakazawa said.
“(We need to) come out like it’s our last game and
leave with no regrets.”
They will face a very aggressive and offensively minded Harvard
team that leads the nation in scoring, averaging 2.5 goals a game.
The Crimson, led by forward Charles Altchek who leads the team with
12 goals, produce a lot of dangerous scoring combinations.
Harvard has created a lot of chances on goal this season, and
the Bruins will be focusing on limiting their space with the ball
in order to try and shut down their offense, Bruin coach Jorge
Salcedo noted.
For the most part, however, the Bruins are focusing on their own
game instead of worrying about the Crimson.
When asked what he knew about Harvard, Nakazawa didn’t
offer too much.
“(I don’t know) much at all. I know they’re a
smart school. They’ve had a good attack this year, scored a
lot of goals, so that’s a big threat.”
Reed had a similar sentiment, noting that the Bruins’ own
mental attitude was the most important factor in the game.
“We haven’t talked about them too much,” Reed
said. “But we’ve definitely worked on our own game plan
and about what we’re gonna do to defend them.”
As part of the game plan, Salcedo will have Nakazawa playing up
front for the second game this year. Nakazawa started on the attack
in UCLA’s final game of the year against San Diego, a game
that the Bruins won 3-1.
Reed, who has recently been splitting time with freshman Brian
Perk, will be the starter in goal for UCLA.
Using a different practice regimen because of the extended
break, the Bruins go into the postseason with confidence on their
side.
“It was our best week of training that we had all
season,” Salcedo said. “Our training on Monday was
very, very good, our intersquad game was probably the best
we’ve had all year.”
The Bruins show up to Drake tonight with a different team,
playing a different opponent, and hoping that with a different
attitude, they can finally forget last year.