The jacket came off in the 80th minute. The celebration came in in the 107th.
With the Bruins losing 2-1 midway through the second half, junior midfielder Felix Vobejda was brought down in the box and – much to the dissatisfaction of UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo – the referee’s’ whistle remained silent. The jacket was promptly flung to the ground, Salcedo became red in the face and the referee heard the full outpouring of fury from the Bruin coach’s mouth.
Eventually, a yellow card for Salcedo ended the tirade, but the UCLA offense kept the fire going.
Freshman midfielder Jackson Yueill tied the score a mere 19 seconds later with a searing penalty kick past the Washington goalkeeper after a takedown that – this time – did result in a foul. The Bruins would need another 26 minutes to find the back of the net, but freshman midfielder Jose Hernandez did just that on a penalty kick rebound in double overtime to give UCLA the 3-2 victory.
A hand ball inside the penalty box gave the Bruins (5-5-0, 1-1-0 Pac-12) their third penalty kick of the night. Hernandez, who had already scored the game’s opening goal, shot it straight to the goalkeeper, but the redirection allowed the freshman to finish on a wide open rebound and stun the No. 15 Huskies (5-2-3, 1-1-0).
Sunday night was the second double overtime in a row for UCLA, after it battled unranked Oregon State (7-3-0, 2-0-0) in its Pac-12 opener Friday afternoon. The Bruins would lose 1-0 on a 102nd-minute goal from Beaver standout Timmy Mueller.
Before the Bruins left for Corvallis, Ore., Salcedo specifically pinpointed Mueller as a threat. Those concerns became a reality when the sophomore forward tallied his sixth goal of the season to sink the visitors. UCLA, while garnering more chances than Oregon State, simply wasn’t able to strike first.
Following the match, sophomore forward Seyi Adekoya was adamant that he wasn’t concerned about the Bruins’ early-season woes.
“Even though we’ve lost, I’m still confident,” Adekoya said. “I’m not really worried at all. There’s no question in my mind that we can turn it around.”
Turn it around they did, winning the battle with the Huskies just two days later.
“I’ve heard that they’re going to be pretty physical,” Yueill said before the Bruins’ road trip began. “They’re going to push us.”
While Yueill may not have meant it so literally, the Bruins were certainly pushed around in Seattle. The two Pac-12 rivals combined for over 50 fouls, 10 yellow cards and one red.
“When we go on the road, we don’t change our tactics and try and play defensively,” Salcedo said. “We still try and have more possession than the other team, recover the ball as quickly as possible and create goal-scoring opportunities.”
The Bruins return to Westwood for a week off before Pac-12 play continues with a trio of home matches against San Diego State, Stanford and California.