UCLA soccer hands UC Riverside its first loss, a 3-0 shutout

Jorge Salcedo knows which buttons to push and when to push them.

The UCLA men’s soccer head coach was making all the right moves on Thursday night, maneuvering his team to a comfortable 3-0 win over previously undefeated UC Riverside (5-1-2).

Although some later changes failed to bear fruit, it seemed as if every earlier substitution Salcedo made when the game was still in contention paid off. The Bruins’ bench provided the cutting edge needed to secure the victory, ultimately combining for two goals and two assists.

“Sometimes you make changes to make sure you have the right energy levels out there. It was our third game in eight days so I wanted to manage our minutes,” Salcedo said. “We have a lot of guys that can make plays; sometimes it’s a blessing and sometimes it’s a curse as well.”

A deep team is certainly a good problem to have; it can be a headache when it comes time to deciding a starting 11, but the luxury of having a bevy of game-changing substitutes at your disposal is priceless for any coach.

On this occasion it was a trio of midfielders – senior Victor Munoz, sophomore Jordan Vale, and freshman Gage Zerboni – who made Salcedo look like a genius. With UCLA leading 1-0 in the final moments of the first half, Zerboni split the Highlander defense with a perfectly weighted pass for Munoz to chip over the keeper and into an empty net. Munoz, who is accustomed to starting, saw no problems with having to make his mark as a substitute.

“There are a lot of games in the season, we have a lot of really good players and we have to share minutes,” Munoz said. “No matter if you start from the bench or you start from the pitch, you have to help the team as much as you can and that’s what I did today.”

Two substitutes connected again early in the second half to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead and kill off the game – this time Vale heading in from close range after a Zerboni cross. The first goal of the game had come from junior midfielder Leo Stolz, who continued his scoring tear after calmly converting a penalty kick about twenty minutes into the game. It was Stolz’s fifth goal in eight games this season – he had a total of zero in 19 games a year ago.

“This year I’m playing more offensive midfield, so I’m closer to the goal and I get more chances to score,” Stolz said. “Also last year I didn’t get many penalty kicks, but this year it’s a different situation.”

Salcedo is not as surprised as others at the fact that Stolz is suddenly finding the net on a regular basis.

“He’s a very cerebral and technical player, he plays the game sort of like (an Andrea) Pirlo from Juventus because he doesn’t lose the ball much,” Salcedo said. “We’ve talked a lot about him having to step up and be a goal scorer for us. It’s something that we’ve needed from his and he’s given it to us.”