A blend of young and old helped the UCLA men’s soccer team easily dispose of UC Davis, 4-0, in its home opener Thursday night at Drake Stadium.
After senior midfielder Kyle Nakazawa scored to put the Bruins (2-1) ahead in the match’s third minute, two freshman forwards ““ Chandler Hoffman and Evan Raynr ““ combined to score the other three goals.
“I was happy with the performance,” sixth-year coach Jorge Salcedo said. “Generally when you score an early goal, sometimes you sit back. “¦ We had a good mentality in the second half.”
The Bruins’ offensive attack remained consistent throughout the match, recording seven shots in each half.
The night’s first shot, off the right foot of Nakazawa, was perhaps the biggest.
On the play, Nakazawa used his chest to settle a crossing pass from sophomore Fernando Monge, then he sent a right-footed shot to the top-left corner.
The 533 in attendance had not yet warmed their seats.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Nakazawa said. “But one thing that we worked on this week is winning second balls. I kind of anticipated, the ball popped up in a weird spot, but I hit a solid shot in goal.”
Then UCLA’s youth took center stage.
With UCLA leading 1-0 in the 60th minute, Hoffman managed to sneak the ball past UC Davis goalkeeper Ryan McCowan for his first collegiate goal. There was a delay in the crowd’s reaction, though, as both Hoffman and McCowan fell to the ground in front of the net.
Nearly nine minutes later, Hoffman was at it again, spinning away from a defender and scoring from about 10 yards away.
“The first one gave me some confidence,” said 19-year-old Hoffman, who was the Gatorade Alabama State Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2009. “I noticed that I could turn the guy, so as soon as I turned him, I looked up and saw that the near post was open and went for it. To get two in the same game is huge.”
Raynr notched his goal three minutes later to seal the scoring.
“The freshman class that we have is phenomenal,” Hoffman said. “I think we bring a lot to the attack.”
Senior goalkeeper Brian Perk, the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week, had three saves before giving way to redshirt sophomore Brian Rowe. UC Davis (2-2) had won two consecutive games coming into the match.
Nakazawa, who was hampered by injuries much of last season, is encouraged by this team’s balance.
So is Salcedo, who believes the freshmen can make immediate impact on a team that touts six returning senior starters.
“We bring players here to contribute,” he said. “You can see that a lot of them are going to contribute throughout the whole season.”