Within the past week, the UCLA men’s soccer team won a host of honors.
Four seniors earned 2009 Pac-10 First Team All-Conference honors and midfielder Amobi Okugo received Second Team All-Conference honors. Okugo was also tabbed Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
“Amobi’s obviously been a starter throughout the year, and we had high expectations for him coming into UCLA,” coach Jorge Salcedo said after Monday’s practice. “He’s done a good job living up to those expectations.”
And to top it all off, the Bruins are on to the third round on the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
With Sunday’s 2-1 victory over the Sacramento State Hornets at Drake Stadium, the sixth-seeded Bruins, who received a first-round bye, are set to take on UC Santa Barbara this Sunday with a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals on the line.
As for Sunday’s second-round win, Salcedo is satisfied with his team’s performance, particularly on offense, especially against an upset-minded Sacramento State team.
“Overall it was a good performance,” Salcedo said. “First half, we were a little bit tentative in the beginning, which is to be expected in the first playoff game. But after that … I thought we did a really good job of being goal-dangerous.
“(Sacramento) State maybe is not a big-name soccer program, but watching them play against (Loyola Marymount), we knew they’d have moments in the game, and they did,” he added.
A large portion of the Bruins’ success this season has to be attributed to the strong freshman class. Of the 29 goals UCLA has scored on the season, 10 of them come from forward Evan Raynr, midfielder Ryan Hollingshead and forward Chandler Hoffman, collectively.
Hoffman, an Alabama native, is second on the team in goals scored and third in overall points with five and 12, respectively. But more importantly, Hoffman scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal in the 80th minute Sunday, five minutes after the Hornets tied the game 1-1.
“Chandler Hoffman, we knew he could score goals and that’s why we brought him to UCLA,” Salcedo said. “I know that he wishes he had scored more than the five goals he has on the season, but he’s done a really good job at scoring important goals for us.”
“As a forward, you go through different periods,” Salcedo added. “Sometimes what you do on the field doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. So even though he hasn’t scored in a ton of games, he’s done a lot of good things for us.”
As for senior leadership, something that the Bruins certainly haven’t lacked all season, forward David Estrada and midfielder Kyle Nakazawa got the Bruins going offensively once again. Nakazawa converted a penalty kick 30 minutes into Sunday’s match after Estrada was taken down in the box.
“After the first 10 minutes or so, I thought we started to move the ball pretty well,” Salcedo said. “Obviously, we got the penalty kick, and Nakazawa took it really well. David Estrada made a great run and got fouled in the box.”
Nakazawa ““ who along with Estrada, midfielder Michael Stephens and goalkeeper Brian Perk were the four Bruin representatives on the Pac-10 First Team All-Conference ““ leads UCLA in goals with 12 and overall points with 30.
Next up for the Bruins is a third-round showdown with UCSB Sunday at 5 p.m. at Drake Stadium.