It took UCLA men’s soccer only 92 seconds to score a trio of goals in its Pac-12 home opener Monday, but – if the Stanford defense shows up as advertised – things won’t be so easy for the home team Friday night.
The No. 3 Cardinal (9-1-1, 2-0-1 Pac-12) are one of the nation’s best defensive teams, having allowed just five goals so far this season. Their pristine mark of .43 goals allowed per game is the fourth-lowest nationwide.
The unranked Bruins (6-5-0, 2-1-0), however, are set up to challenge that ironclad Cardinal backline.
Led by sophomore forward Seyi Adekoya and freshman midfielder Jose Hernandez, the UCLA offense has exploded for 23 goals in 11 games. The pair of underclassmen have contributed 14 of those goals, setting the Bruins’ blistering pace midway through the season.
Even still, associate head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt said that the team continues to work on central combination play in practice – trying to get the ball forward, central and behind the opposing defense. The key for the Bruins, he said, is making sure they are at full speed.
“A lot of it is just getting our top attacking guys healthy, which we haven’t had all year,” Carlin-Voigt said. “Getting (sophomore forward) Abu (Danladi) back in the San Diego State game gave us a big lift, and getting Seyi back, and having (freshman midfielder) Jackson (Yueill) and (freshman defender) Malcolm (Jones) come back from U20s will give us big lifts.”
Danladi, who did not appear on the Bruins’ recent road trip to Oregon State and Washington, has continued to burn opposing defenses when he’s healthy. In Monday’s 4-0 win over San Diego State, both he and Adekoya applied constant pressure to the Aztecs, eventually allowing the Bruins to break through in the 61st minute.
As a whole, UCLA has tallied an average of 2.09 goals per game – most in the Pac-12 and nearly half a goal higher than last season’s mark.
Cardinal goalie Andrew Epstein and the Stanford defense will look to silence that attack, and the Bruins said they fully expect Friday night’s match to be a challenge.
“Stanford’s always been a really hard-working team,” said senior midfielder Jordan Vale. “They’re a good pressing team, which is a good fit against our football. If we can play around them, that’s what we’re going to look to do.”
Forwards Foster Langsdorf and Jordan Morris pace Stanford’s balanced offensive attack with four goals apiece, but the Cardinal really haven’t needed to provide Epstein with much of a lead to get the win. Their suffocating defense handles the bulk of the work.
“We gotta know what they’re gonna bring – they’re gonna bring hard work, they’re gonna bring pressure,” said senior midfielder Grady Howe. “We have guys that are technical enough to break pressure, to break lines. They’re a good team, so we respect them, but we think we can impose our game on them.”
Stanford sits atop the Pac-12 with seven points early in the conference schedule, tied with Oregon State and just ahead of UCLA, which has six points. While the Cardinal drew with Washington last weekend, they haven’t lost since their season-opener against UC Santa Barbara in late August.