On the eve of Halloween, the men’s soccer team got to witness the holiday a day early. It saw the prototypical Halloween colors ““ Oregon State sported orange and black uniforms ““ as well as a costume change
Sophomore defender Joe Sofia had to change jerseys after bleeding on his first one. There were plenty of tricks but only the Bruins got the treat in a 1-0 double overtime victory.
Coming off a late 1-0 win against Washington on Friday, UCLA started the game tentatively, with Oregon State tallying three shots to UCLA’s zero in the first 20 minutes.
“We lacked some energy today, and physically, I think we were tired from the game the other night. We put a lot in the game the other night, and coming back today, it was hot in the beginning of the game,” coach Jorge Salcedo said.
However, once the game settled down, the Bruins were able to resort to their typical possesion-dominated style of play.
“That’s what we believe in ““ possession and possession,” redshirt junior Fernando Monge said. “We just try to get the other team tired, and once they’ve showed us the openings and weaknesses, we try to exploit that.”
The Beavers, on the other hand, adopted a very different style of playing, opting a strategy of playing long balls in hopes of counterattacking against the Bruins.
“Sometimes in college you come up against really skilled, technical teams and other times you come up against some bruisers like them and you have to be prepared for both,” senior midfielder/defender Andy Rose said. “And the guys we have on the team I really feel strongly about because we can handle both types of play.”
As UCLA began to dominate possession, however, chances came and went as it entered the half with seven shots while holding Oregon State to only four shots the entire first half.
Throughout the game, the Bruins tried to deploy some deception on their set pieces and corner kicks, often choosing to play a short ball rather than the usual cross into the box or long ball.
“We’ve been implementing a corner-kick play, where we have done different things so we aren’t straightforward on our corners, and it’s been successful for us,” Salcedo said.
And successful it was as the game reached a second overtime with the game looking like it’d end in a tie, the Bruins got a corner kick and after playing the ball short and then having senior forward/midfielder Eder Arreola cross the ball in. Rose headed the ball onto sophomore forward Victor Chavez, who shot the ball onto the post. The ball rebounded to Monge who put in the golden goal at the 102nd minute to win the game for UCLA, keeping the Bruins undefeated in Pac-12 conference play.
The game was the last at home for the Bruins this season. They travel to northern California next weekend to take on Stanford and Cal.