In the 89th minute, after a wild scrum for the ball ensued near Stanford’s back post, junior defender Aaron Simmons emerged from
the pack, streaking down the right side, pumping his fist and screaming in jubilation.
Simmons had just broken a scoreless tie in the waning moments of Thursday’s game, heading a ball toward the goal where it hit another Stanford’s player’s head, ricocheted off a second Stanford player and into the goal to secure a 1-0 win for UCLA.
“Just happiness,” said Simmons, a transfer from Southern Methodist University in his first year at UCLA, on how he felt after scoring his first goal as a Bruin. “It was a hard fight for the whole 89 minutes, and finally, we broke them down.”
Coach Jorge Salcedo, though, saw a bit more to the goal than just the heroics.
“I thought the goal was very symbolic, and in some ways, a microcosm of the way the game was,” Salcedo said.
“It was just a battle in the air for Aaron, and Aaron gets up and challenges the back post and wins a header … It wasn’t the prettiest goal, and neither was the game, but like I told the guys before today’s game … this year’s always going to be a battle, a hard-fought match like it was tonight.”
In a grind-it-out game that Simmons described as a “war,” No. 6 UCLA (7-2-1, 2-0-0 Pac-12) and Stanford players constantly tangled and tussled with each other for possession of the ball.
“(It was) just the physicality of it all. It’s less of a soccer game and more of like a football game,” Simmons said. “Everybody’s going in hard at each other, tackles are hard, going for challenges are hard. But it’s just a fight, it’s a big fight.”
Every once in a while, one team would break through for a hard-earned scoring opportunity. Stanford (6-3-1, 1-2-0), in particular, had its chances to go ahead.
In the 49th minute, a Stanford player, sandwiched between two Bruin defenders, had a header straight on goal from about 15 feet away. But redshirt junior goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. quickly dove to the left and punched the ball away in the nick of time.
Later in the second half, Edwards was once again called upon to make a spectacular save. A Stanford player had a wide-open, straight-away shot from about 10 feet, but Edwards stuck out his leg while falling to the ground for the nifty save.
“Every now and then, you’re going to be called upon as a keeper to make those plays and keep your team in the game,” Edwards said.
Now, UCLA is on a four-game winning streak, and looks to be in prime position for its next game – a Sunday afternoon showdown with No. 3 California.