There comes a time in every collegiate sport when the old guard steps down, when the players who have been there before can no longer offer their services, when the ones who have grown together for three or four years have to call it quits. It is at this time that the new faces must step up and take the places of their departed teammates to carry their team to either victory or demise.
The UCLA men’s soccer team is at such a crossroads heading into the 2010 season. From 2006 to 2009, the Bruins won two Pac-10 championships, reached the national championship game in 2006, falling to UC Santa Barbara, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season before suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Wake Forest.
But UCLA lost no less than eight regular players this past offseason, five of whom ““ goalkeeper Brian Perk, midfielders Amobi Okugo, Michael Stephens and Kyle Nakazawa and forward David Estrada ““ were selected in the MLS SuperDraft, the most of any NCAA team. The Bruins also lost three regular starters along the defensive line, as Sean Alvarado, Danny Suits and Luis Serrano have graduated. Alvarado, Estrada, Nakazawa and Okugo started every single one of the Bruins’ 20 games last season.
The question facing coach Jorge Salcedo now becomes whether this team, so full of young players who figure to see major playing time, can become a serious Pac-10 title contender.
That remains to be seen, but having the best recruiting class in the nation sure helps.
“Every year has a different challenge,” Salcedo said. “To have young guys is a challenge, but it’s also something that we embrace. We never want to just say, “˜Oh, we’re a team for the future.’ We have to figure out how to be a good team here and now. We recruit these players to come in and step in and play right away.”
Led by five All-Americans ““ goalkeeper Earl Edwards, midfielder Kelyn Rowe and forwards Victor Chavez, Zack Foxhoven and Reed Williams ““ UCLA’s 2010 recruiting class was deemed the best in the nation by College Soccer News. But the Bruins’ new arrivals will have to adjust to the collegiate game quickly and contribute immediately.
“It’s a blessing in disguise,” Chavez said. “Maybe this year we won’t be our strongest, like we’re starting to get the hang of it as incoming freshmen, new players to this college scene. But in the future, maybe we can experience this together, collectively, and put it towards something else.”
Inxperienced though they might be, UCLA’s five All-Americans each has a very impressive resume.
Edwards is the most highly-touted of them all. He earned the rank of Top Drawer Soccer’s No. 1 recruit for 2010, and has appeared multiple times for the United States Under-17 team, including a tour as the team’s starting goalkeeper at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, where the U.S. reached the Round of 16. However, he finds himself in an unfamiliar locale: the bench.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Brian Rowe filled in admirably when Perk was with the U.S. U-20 team in Egypt last season, and enters this season as the starter, which means the top recruit in the country will have to wait his turn.
“At first, it was hard for me not playing,” Edwards said. “I was used to playing quite a bit. But I think motivation really isn’t a problem for me. Getting better is really what I’ve been focusing on for the last few years, so I’ll continue to get better and hopefully I’ll get my shot.”