For the fourth consecutive match, the UCLA men’s soccer team came away with a tie.
The latest in the string of ties came on Sunday afternoon in front of 1,822 fans at Drake Stadium, where the Bruins (2-3-5) played to a 3-3 draw against San Diego State (2-5-1).
With the tie, the Bruins pushed their unbeaten streak to five games and have not lost since their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Indiana on Sept. 12.
After a rough first half in which UCLA fell behind 2-0, the Bruins outscored the Aztecs 3-1 in the second half to send the game into overtime.
Although the Bruins had the advantage of playing with two more players because of a pair of Aztec ejections, they were unable to capitalize on their scoring opportunities in the overtime periods. The Bruins’ inability to end the game while having a two-man advantage frustrated junior midfielder Michael Stephens, who scored his team’s first two goals.
“I think at that time we still had the momentum, then they got another red card,” Stephens said. “We should have done better and gotten a goal when we were two men up. It should have made a huge difference.
“If you allow it to make too much of a difference mentally and kind of take your foot off the gas a little bit ““ maybe that’s what happened.”
While UCLA failed to find the net in the first half, SDSU benefited from a pair of deflections off Bruin goalkeeper Trevor Hunter to go into halftime up
2-0. According to coach Jorge Salcedo, the two-goal deficit was a result of his team’s sluggish play.
“We were very reactionary,” Salcedo said. “We were second to balls.”
However, the Bruins regained momentum in the second half. Several good chances on seemed to spark a difference in tempo.
The Bruins finally struck in the 60th minute, when Stephens received a pass from senior midfielder Jason Leopoldo and sent a shot to the lower right corner past Aztec goalkeeper Brad Byrns.
Then in the 74th minute, an Aztec defender stepped in front of the net and negated a Bruin goal with a handball, which resulted in his ejection and a Bruin penalty kick. Stephens stepped up to take the penalty shot and scored the equalizer. The Aztecs responded with eight minutes left in the game, scoring off another rebound.
But with just over two minutes to go in regulation, Leopoldo sent a cross into the box and senior forward Maxwell Griffin evened the score again.
While the offense is improving, Salcedo feels the defense needs to follow suit.
“We’re scoring goals,” Salcedo said. “It’s about getting better defensively.”