The No. 10 UCLA men’s soccer team got the better of the San Diego Toreros on Friday, winning 2-1 on the road.
Freshman midfielder Ryan Hollingshead scored a quick strike in the ninth minute to open up the scoring for the Bruins (4-1), and senior midfielder Kyle Nakazawa converted a penalty kick in the 47th to put the game out of the reach of the Toreros (4-3). Senior forward Andrew Feld drew San Diego closer with a spot shot of his own in the 61st minute, but it proved to be too little, too late for the Toreros.
The win marks UCLA’s first in Torero Stadium since the second round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
“We moved the ball well; we worked well as a team,” UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t score a second goal in the first half, (which) would have made the game a lot easier.”
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Brian Rowe did his best impression of a brick wall filling in for the normal starter, senior Brian Perk, who, along with senior midfielder Michael Stephens, is with the U.S. Under-20 national team in Egypt for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Rowe tallied eight saves on the night en route to getting his second career win in as many starts.
“I knew I had to step up for my team to step into that (starting) spot,” Rowe said. “I was just able to make the saves. It was a huge confidence booster for me, and it was a lot of fun back there.”
Hollingshead got the Bruins on the board in the ninth minute with a close-range placed shot to the far post off a through ball from Nakazawa.
Two minutes after the restart, Nakazawa won the ball in midfield and went on a scorching run into the Toreros’ box, dribbling four defenders in the process. He was tripped up in the box, and proceeded to place the resulting penalty kick into the back of the net to put the Bruins ahead by two.
Senior defender Danny Suits was called for a handball inside the penalty box in the 61st minute. Salcedo said that the ball struck Suits’ chest, but the referee pointed to the spot anyway, and Feld scored.
Nakazawa and Hollingshead are now one-half of a four-way tie atop the Bruins’ goal-scoring chart, with two goals apiece. Freshmen strikers Evan Raynr and Chandler Hoffman join them at the top.
“It really shows just how deep our team is and how much talent we all have,” Hollingshead said. “No team can just stick two guys on one of our players because they’re the best. They can’t double-mark a guy; they have to spread out the team. With so many options, it allows us to spread the ball more and have more time on the ball.”
UCLA’s 10 goals have come from six different players, three of whom are freshmen. Salcedo credits the Bruins’ spreading of the wealth to their tremendous depth.
“We’re happy with the production from so many different guys,” Salcedo said. “The freshmen are doing really well when they get their chances.”
The Bruins take on the UNLV Rebels (4-1-2) at Drake Stadium at 5 p.m. on Sunday.