Just over a week ago, then-No. 1 UCLA men’s soccer lost to unranked San Diego. Two days later, junior forward Larry Ndjock’s name was left out of the starting lineup for the first time all season, and UCLA defeated Cal State Northridge 3-0.
“When you lose a game, there’s things you need to do to change the way you approach the game and to make sure that you have a different result,” said coach Jorge Salcedo on Sept 28, after making the switch.
On Saturday, Ndjock was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game. It took until the 39th minute for him to get in.
Just five minutes later, Ndjock’s campaign to regain his starting role was in full effect, as he scored the goal that proved to be the difference in No. 2 UCLA’s 1-0 win over San Diego State.
“People are telling me before the game that I should just come in and bring energy to the team,” Ndjock said. “Because we weren’t looking really good in the first 30 minutes (of the game).”
The junior forward’s 44th-minute goal came on what he called a “perfect ball” from sophomore midfielder Felix Vobejda. Ndjock said that he saw an opening on the near-post side of the defense, sprinted toward the gap and received the pass from Vobejda. Then, he kicked a ball that went above the arms of the SDSU goalkeeper and just below the crossbar. 1-0 UCLA.
After the game, Salcedo said that he almost saw the goal coming.
“I thought Larry had a really good week of training. You could tell that he was ready to play,” Salcedo said.
Salcedo added that Ndjock’s morale was never an issue, saying that the junior forward “embraced” his role as a reserve on Saturday night.
“(He) took his opportunity and did really well with it,” Salcedo said.
Ndjock certainly seized his opportunity. In his 23 minutes of playing time, he only took one shot, but he made it count. The Bruins (6-2-2) moved to 1-0 in Pac-12 play as a result, while SDSU (6-4) fell to 0-1 in conference play.
Confidence boost
Ndjock wasn’t the only player to receive a dose of confidence from a standout performance on Saturday. Salcedo said that his team’s confidence as a whole is much higher now than it was a few weeks ago, when the Bruins were held scoreless in back-to-back games for the first time since 2009.
“We have nine games left in the season. I really like the place that we’re at in terms of the way we’re playing, the way we’re defending and creating good goal-scoring opportunities,” Salcedo said.
UCLA’s shutout of SDSU marks the fifth time in the last six games that the Bruins have held their opponents scoreless. And while the offense still isn’t producing many multiple-goal performances, Salcedo believes more goals will come as his team progresses toward the postseason.
“I’m supremely confident that we’ll start to convert more of our chances, and once we do, then we’ll have an overall very complete team,” Salcedo said.