Every once in a while, a painter can afford to put down his brush for a moment, take a breath, step back and admire the way his artwork is coming along.
Such is the state that the UCLA men’s soccer team finds itself in. After coming through the trickiest part of its Pac-12 schedule with three straight wins – against No. 3 Washington, Stanford and No. 4 California – UCLA now has almost two weeks in between matches to reflect on its progress and prepare for its last conference game on Nov. 16 against San Diego State.
It’s both a needed and welcomed pause from an otherwise breakneck schedule. Players not only have the chance to rest their bodies and tend to any nagging injuries, but they also have time to enjoy the parts of life that may have been put on the back burner for the better part of a busy season.
“It’s nice to enjoy the small things, you’re at college and you get to hang out with your friends and relax a little bit,” said senior defender Patrick Matchett. “With midterms and everything, things can get pretty stressful, so a week off for us right now is big-time.”
However, there are always two sides to a coin. While it would seem that any break is a welcomed one, the Bruins are in the middle of their best stretch of soccer all year. There’s always the possibility that having two weeks between games could disrupt the roll that the team is on, but players insist there will be no negative effects. Looking at what happened last year does nothing but support the players’ stance on the issue.
“Last year we were on a roll too; we had won Pac-12, but we had like four games in two weeks right before playoffs, so we just went in and we were dead,” said senior forward Reed Williams. “It’s good to have this break and make sure we don’t get too tired so we can hit the ground running for playoffs.”
No. 1 in RPI
The mini-vacation isn’t the only thing the Bruins deserve to be happy about this week. They have a shiny new No. 1 next to their name on the national rankings page.
While being recognized as the top team in the country at the moment is a nice title to have, coach Jorge Salcedo stressed that it’s being in the top four that really matters when it comes to the postseason.
“(A top-four seed) gives you a great opportunity to stay at home, have a bye, be in the second round and get ready to play against the winner of a play-in game,” Salcedo said.
A win in their last conference match against the San Diego State Aztecs on Nov. 16 would all but lock up one of those top-four seeds for the Bruins. While they still have an outside chance at winning the Pac-12 championship, Salcedo sees the RPI seeding as the priority.
“I think every program in the country would rather be a top-four seed than win their conference championship,” Salcedo said. “We haven’t had a top-four seed at UCLA since 2003; we have to keep doing our part and hopefully the committee will reward us.”