When UCLA forward David Estrada found the back of the net in the 37th minute to put UCLA up 1-0 against University of San Diego, his sigh of relief was a big one.
It was not only his first goal of the season, a rebound off a shot by teammate Andrew Sinderhoff, but it also gave the Bruins an edge after the Toreros had been getting multiple dangerous chances on goal.
“I was really nervous at the beginning of the game,” Estrada said. “And that goal just gave me so much confidence.”
That one goal would prove to be enough for UCLA (4-4-1) to capture a 1-0 victory over USD (3-5-0) in their final game before the start of the Pac-10 season.
The game was close the whole way, with both sides applying a great deal of offensive pressure. That pressure switched to the San Diego half of the field once Estrada nudged the Bruins in front.
“After the goal you could feel the momentum swinging to our side,” goalkeeper Brian Perk said. “They were back on their heels thinking, “˜Maybe we’re not as good as we thought. Maybe UCLA’s a lot better than we thought, than everyone thinks.'”
The Bruins were able to hold onto the slim margin due in large part to a big performance by Perk. He had four saves on the day en route to the shutout, including two diving stops in the first half that kept the teams even. Then, with the Bruins leading late in the second half, he made a leaping save on a header over his left shoulder that forced him to dive backwards to just barely tip the ball over the crossbar.
“It looks a little better than it actually is,” Perk said. “It’s basically angles. … I’ve done that a million times so I felt completely comfortable. Just a little tip over the bar.”
The home win snaps a short skid for the Bruins, who had been struggling a bit on the road. The road-weary Bruins have had troubles away from home, going 1-4-1, but have thrived in front of their home crowd, posting a 3-0 record at Drake Stadium so far this season.
While coach Jorge Salcedo was happy to see his team back in the win column, he felt there was room for improvement in their play late in the game.
“I think that we didn’t see the game out as well as we would like,” Salcedo said. “They had a lot of chances towards the end of the game. Of course a team that is down 1-0 is going to push hard to tie the game, and I thought we made some poor decisions in terms of fouling guys and things like that.”
While the game saw only one goal, both teams had a slew of opportunities that came just short. In the second half Estrada found himself with a one-on-one oppurtunity against goalkeeper Kelin Briones. Outside of the box and unable to dive for the ball, Briones shoved Estrada off the ball, earning a yellow card, but saving the goal.
The Bruins had a lot of different combinations creating chances up top. Redshirt junior Richard Flores got into the mix with Estrada and forward Maxwell Griffin, splitting time at striker throughout the game. Salcedo noted that he plans on continuing using the three strikers interchangeably as his fowards’ fitness levels improve.
New personnel in the midfield and on defense had mixed results for Salcedo’s team. The Toreros were able to bring numbers into the opposing half to get good looks on goal in the opening minutes, and again late in the second half.
“There are things we need to figure out before the weekend to make us more difficult to penetrate,” Salcedo said. “I thought they got behind us quite easily at times.”
The win gets UCLA back to .500 as they prepare to go back on the road for the start of conference play at San Diego State on Saturday.