In college soccer, the line between success and struggle is very thin, and one weekend can completely change everything.
Going into the road weekend at the Bay Area schools, a sweep would have clinched the Pac-10 for UCLA (8-8-2, 4-4-1 Pac-10). Instead, after a 2-1 loss at Stanford and a 3-1 loss at California, the Bruins are now at .500 and need a win against San Diego State tonight to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years with a losing season.
“We lose … two games, and now all of a sudden we’re not even in contention for a Pac-10 Championship, so it’s just crazy,” forward David Estrada said. “It comes at you fast. If we would have gotten those wins we would be the champions, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Games come at you fast, and you’ve got to take them.”
The Bruins’ season comes down to this game, which is essentially a one-game playoff. If they win, they make the tournament. If they lose, their season is over.
Each weekend for the Bruins is made all the more vital because there are only six teams in the conference. With USC, Oregon, Washington State and the Arizona schools all lacking men’s soccer programs, there is very little room for error in conference play.
The season has contained streaks of both errors and confident plays for coach Jorge Salcedo’s team. UCLA opened conference play with a 1-0 loss at San Diego State, continuing its early season woes. The team then responded by rattling off a five-game unbeaten streak that put UCLA back at the top of the standings.
And then came the second wave of troubles.
After beating Oregon State on a Friday, the Bruins fell 1-0 on a fluke goal to Washington. They were still in the driver’s seat but may have had their confidence shaken by a loss to a clearly inferior team. That lack of confidence would hurt them during their big weekend in the Bay Area.
“We go on a good run, we lose some games and we lose some confidence,” Salcedo said. “A lot of it is just attributed to the fact that confidence is so tenuous, and soccer is a game where you have to play with a ton of confidence. You have to go out there and not let yourself get too low and not let yourself get too high. I think there’s been times when we’ve definitely been too high or too low this season.”
The team has seen a lot of hardship this season, with losses coming much more often than anyone in the program is used to. Before each game in the recent losing streak, Salcedo and the team captains tried to psych up the team with motivational speeches in an attempt to spark a turnaround.
For this game, no doubt the most important of the season, they are taking a different approach.
“I think maybe that kind of pressure got to some people,” senior cocaptain Mike Zaher said. “Some people didn’t play to the best of their ability because they were thinking about it the whole time.
“This week we went a little different. … Instead of being like “˜We have to win this game, this is it,’ we’re going to put the work in and prepare for the game. … Hopefully that will reflect on the field.”
If it does, UCLA could live to play another day.
But standing in between the Bruins and the postseason are the Aztecs, their local rival. The two teams are in competition for second place in the conference and typically have very physical matchups. The Aztecs have been known for their direct play and will look to be dangerous on set pieces with players who are very good in the air.
The Bruins will be just under full strength. Forward Maxwell Griffin, the Bruins’ leading goal scorer, rolled his ankle in the game against Stanford almost two weeks ago. He could start or come off the bench as he has done a lot this season.
This game, originally scheduled for the weekend, was moved up to today in order to accommodate San Diego State’s schedule changes due to recent wildfires.
For seniors Zaher, Greg Folk and Brandon Owens this game is vital to not only extend their last season as Bruins, but to ideally go out on a high note.
Still the seniors didn’t push too hard on their younger teammates; they didn’t have to.
“I think (it) goes without saying,” Estrada said. “Seeing their faces after the game against Cal really affected me a lot. … We don’t even need to talk about the seniors (among the team). Our seniors deserve this win, so we’ll do everything we can.”