Freshman goalkeeper Dakota Havlick lay facedown on the goal line, the ball lay motionless against the netting and Drake Stadium roared.
The cheers weren’t for the home team.
Moments earlier, Havlick fumbled what would become his final save attempt of the night, tipping the ball into UCLA’s own goal and giving visiting UC Riverside the 2-1 overtime win.
The heartbreaking loss was the third upset in a row for the formerly top-ranked Bruins – now No. 8 – as they continue to search for ways to stop their early season free fall.
Havlick, appearing in his first college match, found his way into the starting lineup after UCLA’s No. 1 goalkeeper redshirt junior Juan Cervantes was injured on the team’s road trip last weekend.
The Highlanders (3-3) forced the freshman to deal with pressure immediately, getting dangerous scoring chances in the first six minutes. Havlick made a pair of saves to eliminate the scoring chances, and the Bruins (1-3) clamped down defensively in front of their freshman keeper for the rest of the first half.
As the sun slowly disappeared behind the stadium, the strong Bruin defense followed suit.
“I don’t think the result shows at all how we played today,” said senior midfielder Grady Howe. “Those are tough goals we gave away, but I think the lead up to the goals – mis-clearances, the little things, passing the feet – is what we have to fix.”
The UCLA offense broke past Riverside midway through the first half with the help of freshman midfielder Jose Hernandez.
Hernandez, coming off the bench for the first time this season, found the back of the net in the 30th minute – just moments after subbing into the match. As senior midfielder Jordan Vale cut through the Highlander defense along the right side, Hernandez fell just behind the Riverside goalkeeper for a wide-open look to make it 1-0 UCLA.
The freshman cited the pressure that the young Bruin squad is dealing with this fall.
“There’s a lot of positives in our game, just little mistakes here and there that we need to get better at,” Hernandez said. “It just takes time with a lot of new guys coming in, especially playing with a lot of pressure from the team that lost the championship last year.”
Out of halftime, the Highlanders took control and tied the score in the 71st minute, as sophomore midfielder Ricardo Ruiz slotted a shot past Havlick’s left side.
The Bruins would have multiple chances to take a lead before time expired, but their shots soared high on numerous occasions – most notably on a free kick from just outside the penalty box by freshman midfielder Jackson Yueill in the final minutes of regulation.
Havlick, after appearing shaky in the second half, dropped the ball – quite literally – just five minutes into overtime.
“It’s one thing to be a team that can pass the ball and create goal-scoring opportunities, but it’s another thing to convert them – and it’s also another thing not to give up soft goals,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “We’ve given up soft goals in three consecutive games and it’s resulted in three losses.”
Last weekend, UCLA fell to a pair of ranked opponents – Maryland and Georgetown – but Sunday’s loss was especially historic, as Riverside beat UCLA for the first time in program history to break a 15-game losing streak.
Just as Havlick eventually got off the ground to join the postgame huddle in one of the lowest moments of the 2015 season, the Bruins will try to pick themselves up and get back into the win column Friday night against unranked Cal Poly.