The seniors on the men’s soccer team left the field biting back tears.
The clock had expired, ending UCLA’s season and those seniors’ college careers with a 3-1 loss at Santa Clara in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It has to end that way for somebody,” senior Mike Zaher said. “Only one team walks away happy (at the end of the tournament). There’s going to be a lot of other seniors feeling the way I do. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last.”
Halfway through Wednesday night’s game, it looked like things might go differently for the Bruins.
After Zaher’s equalizing goal in the 37th minute, UCLA had all of the momentum and seemed like it might be able to upset seventh-seeded Santa Clara to advance.
A few missed opportunities later, followed by goals in back-to-back minutes by Santa Clara, and the Bruins dreams were be shut down.
UCLA’s early success is at least partially attributed to a big day from a surprise face in the lineup.
The decision to sit goalkeeper Brian Perk, who hurt his shoulder in the first-round win over New Mexico, put redshirt freshman Trevor Hunter in goal for his first start as a Bruin.
“I was definitely nervous getting my first career start like that,” Hunter said. “(But) the guys really backed me up. They gave me a cheer in the locker room before. It inspired me and showed me they had faith in me.”
Hunter responded with a solid performance in goal, while getting challenged early and often. He was able to get the stop on a one-on-one to keep the score knotted at zero early.
“Hunter did a great job,” Zaher said. “I was really proud of him. The goals that happened he couldn’t do anything about. If Perk was in there, it wouldn’t have made a difference on some of those chances.”
The first one of those chances came in the 23rd minute. Santa Clara’s Matt Hatzke blasted a shot past Hunter into the upper right-hand corner of the goal to put the Broncos up 1-0.
UCLA did not wait long in responding however, with Zaher’s goal coming off a one-time pass from teammate Chance Myers 14 minutes later.
The game went into halftime knotted at one, and the Bruins were brimming with confidence.
“The first five minutes (in the second half) we had 2 good opportunities to score,” coach Jorge Salcedo said. “Having won (or tied) 17 in a row, (Santa Clara is) so used to things going their way that if we had scored the second goal before they scored a second, we would have won.
“It was a microcosm of the whole year. We have chances to score, don’t score and end up losing the game.”
While UCLA had a handful of dangerous scoring chances, Santa Clara had even more opportunities of their own, totaling 13 second-half shots to the Bruins’ six.
In the 78th minute, midfielder Stephen McCarthy turned one of those chances into the difference in the game, putting the Broncos up 2-1. Teammate Jide Ogunbiyi slammed the door shut with a goal one minute later to give his team the 3-1 victory.
After the disappointing end to a turbulent season, seniors Zaher, Greg Folk and Brandon Owens had an emotional walk off the field, putting periods at the end of memorable careers, and leaving the pitch as Bruins for the last time.