When Seyi Adekoya slotted home a back-heel pass past the Akron goalie in the eighth minute of Sunday morning’s game, the sophomore forward and league-leading scorer gave his team a rare early lead.
In an up-and-down season for No. 19 UCLA men’s soccer (8-7-1, 3-3-1 Pac-12), the Bruins have often struggled in the first 45 minutes, giving up early goals and failing to capitalize on their offensive opportunities.
In the nine games where they fell behind, UCLA came back to win only three times.
When they attack and strike first, the Bruins have won five of seven matches, including the team’s most recent victory, a 4-2 upset of then-No. 6 Akron (12-3-2, 3-0-1 Mid-American Conference).
Adekoya and freshman midfielder Jose Hernandez notched goals in the first half to lead the Zips 2-1 at half time. Both tallied goals in the second half, but the defense held Akron to a single goal to secure the win.
In their last four games, the Bruins have seen a resurgence in their blitzing first half play, scoring eight of their past 15 goals before half.
“Starting off with a good mentality and high energy is crucial,” said senior defender Javan Torre. “This is a team that can initiate and control the game from the beginning and set that tone for the whole match.”
Seventeen players have contributed on offense, including a team-high eight assists from sophomore forward Abu Danladi and 11 goals from Hernandez.
Striving to replicate past success, coaches credit the late season success and first half starts to renewed intensity and a fresh game plan.
“You play how you train,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “If you have that high intensity in training then that’ll transfer to the game and the past games have been great opportunities to learn and grow from.”
After stitching together complete halves against Cal, Stanford and Akron, the Bruins believe that they are peaking after a lackluster start to the season behind their growing team chemistry.
“We tweaked the different lines between defenders, midfielders and strikers so that we press as a team,” said junior midfielder Felix Vobejda. “But everything starts with better communication and trusting everyone to do their job.”
UCLA returns to Drake Stadium for its final home matches against Oregon State and Washington. In their last match-ups, the Bruins took both the Beavers and the Huskies to double overtime before coming away with a loss and a win, respectively. Wins against both teams would push UCLA to third in the Pac-12 and all but secure a post-season berth.