It’s safe to say the No. 1 UCLA men’s soccer team is on a roll as the Bruins head into this weekend’s home stand, which kicks off against Stanford on Thursday night.
Having won four straight matches, including two against No. 4 Washington, UCLA has claimed sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 heading into its final three games of the season.
“(Coach Jorge Salcedo) always talks about peaking at the right time,” said freshman forward Seyi Adekoya. “And I think at the beginning of the season it was a little bit hard for us to find that rhythm. But now we’ve found it, and we’re on an upward trend.”
This upward swing is markedly different from the minor slump that the team was in when it last played Stanford on Oct. 12. Back then, UCLA was coming off an overtime loss to Cal, and ranked in the bottom half of the Pac-12 standings. The Bruins had several chances to score a late match-winner against the Cardinal, but failed to capitalize as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
“We’ve definitely improved (since the Stanford game)” said junior defender Javan Torre. “The guys have a better understanding of what their roles are … we understand how we’re going to work together, off the ball especially.”
Though the roles may now be understood, they were shuffled a bit last Sunday, when UCLA lost starting sophomore defender Nathan Smith to a broken leg against Oregon State.
“We did change quite a bit of what we normally do (after Smith went out). We actually didn’t play with an outside midfielder,” Salcedo said.
The Bruins (10-3-3, 5-1-1 Pac-12) made the transition look seamless against the Beavers, defeating them on their home soil, 2-1. But a tougher test looms with No. 8 Stanford (9-2-2, 2-1-2), one that might require the extra outside mid to come back into play for UCLA.
“Stanford, they play a unique style in the midfield. They really have all four of their midfielders pinched in tightly,” Salcedo said.
To counter Stanford’s plan of keeping the ball contained in the middle of the field, Salcedo said that the Bruins will need to win the possession battle, so they can utilize their speed advantage on the outside flanks.
Freshman forward Christian Chavez said that there might be a bit of reverse psychology as well, as Stanford may be expecting a speedy UCLA team to be eager to spread the ball.
“I feel like now they’re expecting us to go out wide, more like we played them last time,” Chavez said. “Now we’re trying to build off the middle, so we could attack more getting to the forwards. And I feel like that will help us a lot.”
What may be integral to UCLA’s offensive effectiveness against Stanford on Thursday will be the health of freshman forward Abu Danladi. Danladi is one of the fastest players in the country, but he has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since Oct. 19, when he scored two goals against Oregon State.
“He could play Thursday, or he could play Sunday (against Cal). It’s just kind of one of those game time decisions,” Salcedo said.