Coming off their worst season in 69 years, the Bruins were on pace to bounce back in 2018.
But back-to-back upset losses have stopped them fresh in their tracks.
No. 23 UCLA men’s soccer (4-3) fell to unranked UC Santa Barbara (5-3) 3-1 Saturday night, sending the Bruins into Pac-12 play just one game over .500.
UCSB scored all three of its goals in a seven-minute span, with the equalizer coming in the 16th minute. The Gauchos chipped a pass over the Bruins’ back line on a long send that set up forward Rodney Michael for the goal.
Senior defender Matthew Powell said the Bruins were forced to play a new formation due to injuries, and that the combination of the Gauchos preparedness and size led to the quick goals.
“We were vulnerable in behind and they took advantage of that,” Powell said. “Their whole roster has six inches on all of our players…It wasn’t for a lack of effort, they took advantage of what we were lacking.”
One minute later, UCSB lined up a free kick just outside the box. The ball deflected off a UCLA defender and bounced over senior goalkeeper Cole Martinez for the go-ahead and game-winning goal.
In the 23rd minute, Michael headed his second goal of the game in a corner of the net and cemented a two-goal lead for the Gauchos.
Neither team was able to score in the second half, but UCSB was playing down one man after UCSB’s forward Sahid Conteh left the game with two yellow cards. The Gauchos had seven yellow cards overall, while the Bruins had two.
Freshman midfielder Frankie Amaya scored his first career goal in the sixth minute to put the Bruins up 1-0, but the lead lasted for just ten minutes.
Amaya had started the two games leading up to the matchup with the Gauchos and recorded one assist so far this season, but Saturday night marked the first time the freshman played all 90 minutes.
Junior midfielder Roman Martin had a scoring chance in the 43rd minute, but his shot from the edge of the box curved wide.
Keeper Martinez entered the match undefeated in 2018, but he fell to 3-1 after recording two saves and facing five shots on goal.
The Bruins rose to No. 8 in the country four weeks ago, but they could be left out of the top 25 for the third time this season after recording their third loss to an unranked team Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re ranked, if you’re not ranked, people are going to come try to get some points off you and win the game,” Powell said. “We’re UCLA, everyone wants to be in our position.”
UCLA will open up its conference schedule Thursday in Berkeley against California, and will stick around in NorCal to take on Stanford on Saturday.
“The thing about conference play is everyone starts at 0-0-0,” Powell said. “It doesn’t matter how you’ve done up until this point, anyone can win the Pac-12 now.”